Soccer takes center stage in Tazewell

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Soccer takes center stage in Tazewell

 

By JED LOCKETT

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

 

TAZEWELL, Va. — Today, Lincolnshire Park will be a showplace for the finest in area high-school soccer as the girls teams from Lebanon and Richlands will kick off the Southwest Virginia Cup at 8:30 a.m.

 

“We’ve been playing it for several years now,†said acting Tazewell boys head coach Jeremy Call. “It’s been great to see how soccer has caught on in this area. Many teams who have been able just to field a coed team have now gotten a girls and a boys varsity. So it’s really nice.â€

 

Joining Tazewell for boys action will be Lebanon, Richlands, Grayson County, and John Battle.

 

But the surprise lies in the number of girls squads playing. Teams representing Lebanon, Richlands, John Battle and Patrick Henry will play along with the hosts from Tazewell — a significant jump from last year.

 

“John Battle and Patrick Henry are both bringing girls teams and we’ll see both of them tomorrow,†said Tazewell girls head coach Patty Gail Cecil. “They have played coed all these years, so their girls are probably going to be pretty strong having to play with the boys the majority of the time.

 

“I told our girls it’s not going to be a piece of cake. They’re going to push and muscle pretty hard for position on the ball and we’re going to have to be sure we do the same.â€

 

The fact that more teams will be participating in the tournament is a sign that the sport is growing and flourishing in Four Seasons Country.

 

“It’s great to see that soccer’s caught on in this area,†Call said. “The kids from this area can come out and show how hard they worked and how hard they’ve practiced. I know we’ve been practicing hard for about a month now. We’re chomping at the bit, ready to go.â€

 

“It used to be that we had a hard time getting three girls teams to come,†Cecil added. “That’s pretty awesome to have that much interest in a tournament for girls.â€

 

Tazewell’s boys will play Lebanon and 9:45 a.m. and John Battle in the final game of the day at 7:45 p.m. They will use the tournament for final preparations going into their first regular-season game, at home Monday against Abingdon.

 

“I’m sure we’re going to be a little rusty,†Call said. “The only thing we’ve gotten to do is scrimmage against the JV and the girls varsity and each other.

 

“So hopefully we’ll be able to see where we need to move around some people in different places and see what we need to work on in practice before we start the regular season on Monday.â€

 

Tazewell’s girls are scheduled to take on John Battle at 1:30 p.m. and Patrick Henry in the tournament’s final girls game at 6:30 p.m.

 

The Bulldogs began their regular season with a home loss to Virginia High. They also want to use the tournament for some fine tuning before their district opener Monday against Abingdon at Lincolnshire Park.

 

“We realized some things after our Virginia High game,†Cecil said. “We’ve got to speed up some stuff. We’re working on defensive and offensive sets. I think we’ll be ready.

 

“I told ‘em yesterday that whatever we do in the tournament is just how we’re going to work on being ready for Abingdon on Monday. We’ve got a couple different things we’re going to do with offense and defense. We’re going to try some things and I guess see what happens.â€

 

Trying to redefine the offense will be the priority.

 

“We have a lot of different scorers this year,†Cecil said. “And we just want to see how well we work passing and containing the ball and then using each other to get our crosses and see if we can do scoring in a different manner than we did last year.â€

 

After opening the tournament, Richlands’ girls will take on John Battle at 11 a.m. Richlands’ boys will play Lebanon at 12:15 p.m., then square off against Grayson County at 2:45 p.m.

 

Whether goals will be plentiful is uncertain. What is certain is that for one day in Tazewell the sport known around the world as the beautiful game will be celebrated at its grass-roots level.

 

“I think it’ll be a really competitive day tomorrow,†Call said. “I think it’ll be a great day for soccer in this area.â€

 

 

Good article