Published: May 08, 2008 11:10 pm            

Defense is unsung hero for G-Girls

BLUEFIELD, Va. — This season, the Graham G-Girls soccer team has blown out opponents by big margins. All the goals brought attention to the goal scorers. But lost in the shuffle were the contributions made by the defense led by senior stopper Lauren Woodson and goalkeeper Brittany Hayes.

Although their contributions might not always make the highlights, their teammates know how important their contributions are.

“I don’t feel overlooked at all because our offense works very hard to get the goals that we have and our defense works just as hard,” Hayes said.

“Our team knows that we’re there and we all understand that the defense is a very important part,” Woodson said. “So to me it doesn’t really matter what everyone sees. It’s that we work as a team and our team as a defense is there and they count on us when they need us.”

As a stopper, Woodson tries to make Hayes’ life as easy as possible.

“I try to keep the ball from getting to the goalie,” Woodson said. “I try to keep it from getting too far back into the defense. If I was perfect in my spot, the ball would not even get to any other defenders.

“I’ve played defense for 10 years. You just try to let the people know where to go into their positions.”

“Lauren’s amazing. She’s my hero. She really is,” Hayes said. “When the defense slips up, she steps up. She’s a beast. She really is.”

Woodson also directs her teammates in the back line to make sure their end of the field is well-covered.

“Some of the defenders don’t know exactly where to go sometimes because they’re young in their positions,” Woodson said. “So I have to help lead them into who to guard.

“Sometimes I might direct kicks and goal kicks where I have to tell them where to go or tell them who to guard and things like that.”

“She’s loud like me and we communicate very well,” Hayes said. “We argue sometimes but we know we still love each other and we’re still friends. We’re just trying to help each other out.”

Graham head coach Roger Mercke has come to rely on that leadership.

“Lauren with being a captain and being a senior has taken it upon herself to control the defense back there,” Mercke said. “Lauren’s taken the lead on any direct kicks, corner kicks.

“She knows where the ball is. She makes sure that the girls are in the right positions, playing the right places. You need that on a team. You need people that can talk and control certain parts of the field out there on the field.”

But Hayes still has had to make some saves — which she has done. Hayes has only given up seven goals, excelling in a position she originally wanted no part of.

“I was chosen to do it,” Hayes said. “I didn’t want to do it. But I was chosen my freshman year to do it and I’ve stuck with it because it’s very fun.”

“Brittany’s an amazing goalie,” Woodson said. “I think we work well together. If I need to know where to go, she’ll tell me. If I don’t know what to do, she’ll tell me. I can warn her about players coming in on her back side and knowing where to set up and things.”

As he has done with Woodson, Mercke has become comfortable with the varied talents Hayes possesses.

“She’s tough and rugged,” Mercke said. “I use her in the goal ’cause she’s basically a go-getter, not afraid of the ball.

“But she can play any position. She’s played defense, midfield, forward. She’s scored eight or 10 goals herself this year in forward when I brought her out of the box.”

Together, they have helped the G-Girls exceed their own expectations.

“This team has performed a lot better than I’d hoped,” Hayes said. “Since we’re very young, we’ve lost key players last year and our defense is younger. Offense is older than it has been. So I am actually impressed.”

“We lost some very important key players last year,” Woodson said. “And I came in hoping that we would still be really good.

“But I was scared that our defense would be really weak. And we’ve actually been a lot stronger than I thought we would be.”

The success in the district has been especially surprising after Abingdon joined a district that already included a strong Tazewell team.

“I was scared with Abingdon coming into our district that we were going to fall back a little because of Abingdon,” Woodson said. “And then Tazewell’s still really tough.”

“I thought that we’d be second or third, not first,” Hayes said.

Together, they share one dream with the rest of their teammates — a trip to the state tournament.

“Being a senior, I’m convinced we’re going to state this year,” Woodson said. “We’ve gotten so close the past three years and I know that the four seniors, we really want to make it there and that we have it in us to help motivate our team.”

“This is the last time that some of these seniors are going to play soccer,” Hayes said. “They’re not going to play in college. They’re not going to play beyond that.

“So I want to get there extremely badly.”

— Contact Jed Lockett

at jlockett@bdtonline.com

        

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