Published: 12:10 AM, Thu Mar 29, 2012
Kirstie King gets hat trick as Terry Sanford tops Jack Britt 4-3 in soccer
C.J. Komons, when asked what was working for his Terry Sanford soccer team in Wednesday's contest against host Jack Britt, just shook his head.
"Really, when our three players up top are on, they're pretty hard to defend," the coach said.
Those three players are Kirstie King, Theresa O'Sullivan and Meagan Speck. And they were, leading the Bulldogs to a 4-3 victory.
With the win, Terry Sanford remained atop the Mid-South 4-A Conference with a 7-0 record. The Bulldogs are 9-2-1 overall.
Freshman forward Kir-stie King scored three goals, including the unassisted game winner with 8:15 left in the second half. King also started the scoring with the first goal of the game. O'Sullivan found King in the middle with 26:46 left in the first, and she found fellow senior Speck two minutes later to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.
"We wanted, not just to play the ball forward, but to play with the ball inside and use Meagan to work the ball past defenders," King said. "I know I was just trying to score, and I think everyone wanted to."
O'Sullivan, who missed her junior season after suffering a torn ACL in her right knee, left the game following her two assists with an injury to that same knee. She did not return, but Komons said she is day-to-day.
"We knew when O'Sullivan went down that it would be a little easier to defend them one-on-one, so we tried to put a little more pressure up top," Britt coach Natt Bunphithak said.
The Buccaneers (8-4-1, 5-2) answered with two goals after Bulldog mistakes.
First, Terry Sanford keeper Karly Gustafson, opting to play a short ball up to a teammate, mistakenly kicked the ball back to Britt's Marissa Aguilar, who lobbed it into the back of the empty net.
"I've been trying to come out more and be more involved with my feet," the junior keeper said. "But that was just a mistake, and we've got to move forward."
The Bucs capitalized on a second Bulldog error with 17 minutes left in the first half on a set piece. Nancy Kirk, fouled just outside the 18-yard box, sent her free kick over the Bulldogs' wall and the outstretched hand of Gustafson to even the game at 2.
Kirk headed a ball served by Courtney Deblois into the net with under four minutes left in the half to give Terry Sanford a 3-2 halftime lead.
Britt struck first in the second half, tying the score on a penalty kick by Kirk with 30:27 left to play, but the Bucs couldn't answer King's final goal.
Staff writer Jaclyn Shambaugh can be reached at 609-0651 or shambaughj@fayobserver.com. Terry Sanford 4, Jack Britt 3
Terry Sanford
3
1-4
Jack Britt
2
1-3
Goals: TS - Kirstie King 3, Meagan Speck; JB - Nancy Kirk 2, Marissa Aguilar
Assists: TS - Theresa O'Sullivan 2, Courtney Deblois; JB - none
Records: Terry Sanford 9-2-1, 7-0; Jack Britt 8-4-1, 5-2