H.S. SOCCER: Peabody continues hot start to season

Trenton Peabody girls’ soccer coach Joseph Wuchter said during the preseason this Lady Tide team has big potential going into this season.

So far Peabody has proven him right.

The Lady Tide beat North Side 6-0 at North Side to improve their record to 4-1.

After opening with three wins, Peabody suffered its first loss on Tuesday 2-1 against Covington, but Wuchter was proud of the way that his team responded from that loss.

“We talked about it before the game, and I commended them at halftime,” Wuchter said. “We came out of the gate strong and created chances early. After a couple of shots didn’t drop, they showed a lot of composure.”

North Side (0-4) is much younger team this season with four seniors on the roster. That youth showed on Thursday as the Lady Indians played with poise at times, but they had a letdown that resulted in a Peabody goal.

The Lady Tide have two seniors on their team, and both scored on Thursday.

Senior Shakira Cliff opened the scoring in the ninth minute as she jumped in front of the North Side defense 40 yards away from goal, and she dribbled in to the 18-yard box before scoring.

“It feels like when we are down, we sometimes quit, but winning makes us push harder and play like it is 0-0,” Cliff said. “I felt like I played hard in this game, and I was feeling up beat because we do not normally beat this team.”

Peabody used multiple ways to score goals and showed in the process how explosive the team can be.

Two goals were scored off rebounds as sophomore Zoe McCall scored in the 29th to make it 2-0 off one and senior Lauren Smith scored the final goal in the 57th minute off another.

Peabody freshman Brynn Hensley was the only Lady Tide player to score twice as she scored the third goal of the match for the 3-0 lead at halftime and in the 41st minute to open the second half.

Emily Putman had the other goal for Peabody off a free kick from 25 yards out in the 50th minute.

But Wuchter was more impressed with the way his defense shut North Side down for a majority of the match and finished off the clean sheet.

“Another thing that we stress is defense,” Wuchter said. “A clean sheet is always a goal for us. We take pride in our defense. Now that this unit has jelled, they are starting to do things naturally.

“We had to replace our whole defensive line, and it is a work in progress. But they are playing more instictive and calmer in everything they are doing.”

Michael Odom, 425-9754