Knights, Lady Knights pick up wins

By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
Dec. 9, 2003
COLLINSVILLE The West Lauderdale boys' soccer team responded to its head coach's challenge after the squad finished the opening half with a 2-0 lead over the Clarkdale Bulldogs at home Monday night.
Knights coach Bud Brown motivated his team at the break, after West out shot Clarkdale 20-5 in the first half, with a mission to score three goals in 10 minutes.
West tallied three goals, one from Christopher Rodgers and two from Anthony Thomas, in the opening five minutes of the second half and went on to take a 8-0 win over Clarkdale (2-3).
Thomas set up Rodgers goal 14 seconds into the closing half threading a pass through the Bulldogs' defense to the Knights midfielder, who shot the ball into the right side of the net for a 3-0 lead.
Thomas developed his own scoring chance by himself just over two minutes into the half cutting the ball in front of a defender into the middle of the Clarkdale goal box. The Knights striker slipped the ball into the left side of the net for a 4-0 advantage.
Thomas knocked in his second goal of the game in the contest's 45th minute by spinning away from a defender and shooting the ball into the right side of the net.
The West senior picked up a hat trick in the match's 65th minute by outracing a defender and shooting the ball into the right side of the net from the top of the Bulldogs' goal box for a 6-0 lead.
Knights freshman striker Neil Robinson picked up the team's seventh goal at the 67-minute mark, and Pogue capped the scoring for West sending a shot towards Clarkdale's goal on a free kick from about 25 yards out that deflected off a defender and past Bulldogs goaltender Calvin Eastman, who stopped 27 of the 35 shots he faced.
The Knights tallied their first two goals in similar fashion to their last goal of the game.
West's Roger Walker picked up the game's first goal in the 18th minute, as his shot from the top of Clarkdale's goal box bounced off a defender and dribbled into the left side of the net.
The bounce went the Knights way again in with 6:34 left to play in the first half, as Pogue sent a crossing pass from the right side of the field bounced off a Bulldogs defender into the net for a two-goal lead.
The Lady Knights didn't need a coach's challenge in their 5-1 win over the Lady Bulldogs, as the West girls' squad found inspiration quickly on the field.
After keeping the ball in Clarkdale's end of the field for the opening five minutes of the match, West gave up the first goal of the game on a break away in the girls' contest.
Clarkdale's Emily Howard chased down a clearing pass from her defense and slipped a shot past West's goalkeeper into the left side of the net for a 1-0 lead in the game's seventh minute.
Lady Knights sophomore midfielder Sarah Birmingham quickly tied the game at one scoring five minutes after the Lady Bulldogs' goal off a cross from freshman striker Brittany Uhl.
Uhl, who finished the game with a hat trick, tallied a goal in the game's 18th minute on a break away to give West a 2-1 lead at the break.
Morgan Gullette increased West's lead to 3-1 6 1/2 minutes into the second half with a goal that deflected off a Lady Bulldogs defender, and Uhl added goals in the match's 65th and 68th minute to produce the final score.