As teammate Jerzi Tong (8) blocks out her Georgetown defender, North Adams’ Tatum Grooms (13) attempts a sideline throw-in during the Lady Devils’ 3-0 loss. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After many years of exceptional success, the going has gotten a bit tougher in 2024 for Coach Morgan Hendrickson and her North Adams Lady Devils girls soccer squad. After losing a group of five solid seniors to graduation, this year’s version of the Lady Devils is the epitome of “young”, fielding a roster now with only two seniors and a total of 10 freshmen and sophomores. That kind of youth means growing pains and that is what the Lady Devils have dealt with through eight games this fall.
On Thursday, September 12, Coach Hendrickson and her girls traveled across county borders to face off with the Georgetown Lady G-Men in a non-conference battle at Brian Grant Stadium. The youth was evident as the Lady Devils played very tentative in the game’s early stages, found a burst of energy in the second half, but were still unable to find the back of the net as the Lady G-Men claimed the 3-0 win.
It didn’t take the home team long to get the only score they would eventually need, getting one by North Adams freshman goalkeeper Bella Gray three minutes in to take a 1-0 advantage. The Lady Devils had opportunities with corner and free kicks, but nothing that seriously threatened the net. Most of the action took place on the Georgetown offensive end and the dagger came for the visitors when the Lady G-Men scored a goal as the halftime buzzer blew to take what seemed like an insurmountable 2-0 lead.
Early in the second half, the Lady Devils had a couple of corner kick chances that came close, but again, no scores. The visitors put a lot more pressure on the Georgetown defense in the second half, but were continually thwarted in their runs towards the goal. With 9:13 to play in the game, the Lady G-men scored one more time,a shot that deflected off a sprawling Gray and found its way into the net. That would be the final score of the night in the 3-0 Georgetown victory, just their third of the season.
“We knew coming in after losing five strong seniors that this was going to be a rebuilding year,” said Coach Hendrickson after the game. “It might be a rebuilding couple of years and that’s okay. It’s just trying to bring that leadership out of some people who know they have it and we need them to express it a little bit more. We go back to the basics and they’re learning it slowly and gaining some confidence each and every game and hopefully that continues.”
“We have preached ball skills since the beginning of practice and they have improved and I am seeing a little leadership out of some girls who were timid last year and I’m proud of that.”
The road got no easier for the Lady Devils as they were back in action on Saturday morning, hosting the always tough Lynchburg Lady Mustangs and their offensive struggles continued as the Lady Mustangs pulled off the 5-0 road win. That left the North Adams girls with an overall record of 2-5-1 for the season.
