Published: May 14, 2008 10:40 pm            

Bulldogs victorious despite missing parts

TAZEWELL, Va. — Seniors are always looked on as a guiding force on any high-school team in any sport. In 2008, those seniors helped guide the Tazewell Bulldogs girls soccer team to the top of the Southwest District once again. But those seniors had a difficult task — replace the best player on their team not once, but twice.

For Tazewell, two seniors have helped keep the train rolling. Goalkeeper Tracy Muncy and midfielder Heather Wells keyed the Bulldogs’ surge and want to keep the momentum going into the postseason.

The first player Tazewell had to replace, Allison Hunter, graduated at the end of 2007. Goalkeeper Abbey Kitts was tapped to fill the void in the offense. That meant someone had to fill Kitts’ void in goal.

Muncy was that someone.

“Abbey’s helped me ever since the beginning and you can’t fill someone’s shoes like that,” Muncy said. “She’s a legend.”

In the time she played next to Kitts, Muncy took every opportunity she could to learn from a legend.

“She taught me everything I know,” Muncy said. “She taught me how to field a ball, how to punt the ball, how to read the defense and tell them when to back up and push up.”

Kitts also taught Muncy how to take control of the penalty area. It is a skill that allowed the Bulldogs to take control of matches when they needed to.

“That’s the most important part of the game, to control the 18-yard box,” Muncy said. “Because if we can’t control it we’ll lose the game.”

“She has done a really good job,” said Tazewell head coach Patty Gail Cecil. “I’m really proud of how well she has taken over. She is doing a better job of directing her defense.

“She’s looking more at where her players need to be in front of her and she does get them pushed out quickly.”

With Muncy in goal and Kitts up top, the Bulldogs rose to the top of the district. But then everything seemed to change when Abbey Kitts injured her right ankle in a loss to district rival Carroll County.

“As soon as that happened we were all heartbroken,” Wells said. “Abbey’s one of my best friends and she loves the game of soccer and we both share that love. And to know that she couldn’t play for three-fourths of her senior year kind of was heartbreaking.”

It also meant Tazewell had another hole to close. But instead of finding one player to do the job, the Bulldogs rallied together to find a way to win their next game, 3-0 over Abingdon at Lincolnshire Park.

“It was a confidence boost to get the win against Abingdon without Abbey,” Muncy said. “Our confidence was so low going into the game and then we’re like, ‘We’ll have to step it up.’”

“We were really worried about that, honestly, because Abbey’s such a great part of our team,” Wells said. “But we also know that she’s not our entire team and that we can make it without her.”

Wells provided an assist in that game on a goal scored by Cara Cecil. It was just one of many times that Wells contributed a great cross.

“She has worked on taking our corners,” coach Cecil said. “She crosses the ball well. She has good touch. We’re just very, very fortunate that she has matured into the soccer player that she has as a senior.

“She has the leadership just like Abbey Kitts. They started together on JV.”

“Heather is an amazing player,” Muncy said. “She’s the assist man. She kind-of gets overlooked sometimes because she doesn’t score all the goals. But she’s the one that gives all the other people the goals.”

Wells has great pride in her team.

“Tazewell soccer, we’ve always been up to the top and we’re probably going to still be up at the top,” Wells said. “We always have this big controversy with our rival team Graham and it’s always going to come down to us and them.”

She also has pride in her teammates, both new and old.

“Every year we get new freshmen that come up and they just get in with everybody and we get really close,” Wells said. “And that helps us out on the field. It shows.”

Both players will cherish the memories they had with their fellow players more than anything else once they leave Tazewell High School.

“Just enjoying it with my friends most of all,” Muncy said when asked what she would remember, “just playing with my friends, that’s what I enjoy the most.”

But they are not looking forward to graduating yet. There are still games to be played.

“We’re just going to play each game as a game and not look too far ahead of us,” Wells said. “I don’t want to get a cocky head or anything.

“But I hope that we keep going.”

— Contact Jed Lockett

at jlockett@bdtonline.com

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.