Lady Wave fall in final minutes to Anna
By George Starks

GREENVILLE- For just over 71 minutes, the Greenville Lady Wave soccer team was right in  line for a possible victory.

With 8:10 left in the game with the Rockets, that possible first win of the season was snatched away when Anna went up 4-3.

With 3:06 remaining, the game was put on ice as the Wave would eventually fall 5-3 and go to 0-7 on the season.

“We got tired and we’re fighting injuries,” said Wave coach Steve Shepard. ”We were right there and we just gave out. We lost a little focus and that was the deciding factor when it mattered most. We didn’t stay tight enough in the end but I’m real proud of the girls. They never quit.”

In his post-game speech to his team, Shepard told his kids they had no reason to hang their heads.

“We are young and inexperienced,” said Shepard. “We have to eliminate a lot of mistakes. I don’t have a lot of kids that play all year long on club teams. The girls are working hard. We just need to eliminate the little mistakes.”

Anna went up 1-0 on a goal by Courtney Kitchen at the 26:49 mark of the first half off a corner kick.

The Rockets scored again at the 24:09 point off the foot of Brittany Axe.

Greenville would get on the board with 6:52 left in the half on a breakaway goal from freshman Kayla Arnold.

With five minutes remaining in the frame, sophomore Ashton Koester would get thing knotted up at 2-2 going into the half.

“We were right there,” said Shepard. ”We had momentum going into the half and I thought we had a good shot at getting our first win of the year. Our keepers, Ashton and Meaghan (Bright) did an excellent job and they’ve been under fire a lot. I’m happy with the job they did tonight.”

The second half saw the Rockets go up 3-2 early but it was Koester that go the Wave even on a kick with 35:49 remaining in the contest.

That goal would be the last the Wave would see on this night.

“We didn’t get down and we are getting better organized,” said Shepard. “Ashton played a whale of a game with two goals. We got to get away from snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. We were a sub or two away tonight from finishing this game off. We just need to get past the injuries and the illness.”

Greenville, 0-7, will play a GWOC game tonight at Troy.