It has been a good start for the Madison County soccer teams as both the girls and boys have added wins after the opening games.
The team faces region opponent Clarke Central on Friday on the road. Clarke Central is 2-0 coming into the Feb. 25 match. Next week, Madison County gets the home field advantage as the Lady Red Raiders host Habersham Central, March 1. Game times start at 5:30 p.m. with the boys games following. Update: Tuesday's home match against Habersham has been postponed. The rescheduled date has yet to be announced.
The Lady Red Raiders sit at 2-1 after adding a 3-0 match over East Jackson Tuesday night. With nine returning starters and 10 seniors on the team, the Lady Red Raiders have a solid core for the 2011 season.
“It is great to have so many returning. We have a unique situation where most of the team has played together for three solid years,” said head coach Molly McCarty. “You can definitely notice this when we are playing.”
“We are pleased with the play of everyone at this point - our main focus is on tactical ball control, fitness and not letting our opponents take control of the game,” said McCarty. “We have proved to be a second half team to this point.”
After a preseason scrimmage loss to Oglethorpe, the Madison County girls started the season with a strong 8-0 win over Elbert County, Feb. 15.
Madison County faced its first region opponent last Friday, taking on Heritage.
“This is one of the fastest and best teams in our region,” McCarty said. “Our defense did shut their offense down the second half.”
Heritage proved it, taking 27 shots on the goal, winning 7-0.
On Tuesday, the Lady Red Raiders faced East Jackson, picking up a 3-0 victory over the Lady Eagles.
The Lady Red Raiders aren’t the only ones off to a good start with a strong senior roster, Madison County’s boys are also off to a good start this season, 2-1.
“Our team is heavy with senior experience, which we hope to ride to a good season this year,” said head coach Trevor Mangan. “We're looking to have a big improvement over last season, we were 3-12-1 and the team is looking to rebound from last year.”
The Red Raiders are off to a good start, earning a 5-0 win in the preseason scrimmage against the Patriots. Madison County controlled the game from the start, maintaining majority of the possessions, which opened up a lot of opportunities to score.
The scrimmage was a good momentum boost for the Red Raiders, who rode that win into their first offical win of the season, over Elbert County.
Defeating Elbert, 6-0, Madison County’s plan to keep more possession of the ball and create mismatches with opponents paid off again.
In the first region game of the season, Madison County took on traditionally tough opponent Heritage.
Losing 3-0, the Red Raiders did gain some helpful experience for later in the season.
“We learned a good bit about ourselves during the game, hopefully we'll build off of it and make ourselves better,” Mangan said. “Heritage was extremely physical, and dictated play for much of the game.”
Madison County returned to the win column on Tuesday as the Red Raiders defeated East Jackson, 4-3.
“We played very sloppy, it was easily our worst game of the year so far,” said Mangan. “Passes were lazy and our concentration was not good. We conceded the first goal of the game by allowing East Jackson to blast a shot through our wall, a mental error that we simply cannot afford to make.”
“Our execution will have to be much better against Clarke Central,” Mangan said.
Madison County faces region opponent Clarke Central on the road Friday with the boys taking on the Gladiators at 7:30 p.m. following the girls’ game.
Next week, the Red Raiders host Habersham Central Raiders on Tuesday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m. The home region game official opens home play for Madison County.
For the full story see this week's Madison County Journal.
