By Staff
Nick Johnston, Hartselle Enquirer
Nothing went as planned Monday evening at the soccer fields.
The Hartselle boys' team wanted to upset Athens, a powerhouse soccer squad in north Alabama. The Hartselle girls' team wanted to even its Area record by beating the Lady Eagles.
Neither was the case.
The girls fell to Athens 7-2, while the boys lost 4-0 in a red and yellow card filled contest under the lights.
Athens 7, Hartselle 2
Girls
Athens jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the Lady Tigers were able to take a shot.
The early lead held up, as Hartselle managed just two goals in the 60:00 of the match.
Kathy Canafax started the game in goal but was pulled after allowing five in the net.
See SOCCER, B-3
She made four saves before making way for Jamie Smyth. Smyth had 13 saves and allowed two goals.
In the field, Madison Lipsey scored a goal on four shots, while Canafax scored in the latter stages of the game.
Marium Bynum had an assist.
As a team, Hartselle took 16 shots.
Athens 4, Hartselle 0
Hartselle fell to 2-4 in Area play and 3-8 overall after losing to Athens.
Athens was faster and more aggressive than Hartselle, according to head coach Dexter Greenhaw.
"They (Athens) have tremendous speed and they are very big," Greenhaw said.
With size and aggressiveness comes cards – of the yellow and red variety.
Athens drew three yellow cards and two red cards during the game. Pushing and language drew blame for penalties.
"They (Athens) were very aggressive out there," Greenhaw said, "because it was an Area game and they had a lot of determination to win."
Justin Knight started in goal and made eight saves on 12 shots. As a team, Hartselle took nine shots on goal. Richie Nagel had five of those.