Lady Cards in the thick of things

By Lisa Paine
VIEW Sports Editor

DAVISON — Facing some of the best area teams, including No. 8 ranked Flint Kearsley and Big Nine foes Flushing, Flint Powers and Grand Blanc has helped keep the Cardinals soccer team moving in the right direction. Falling just short against their conference rivals has given the team the impetus to keep on driving.
On Monday, a 3-2 win over Genesee Area Conference-Red Goodrich, which is struggling to find its second win of the season, has kept the girls focused.
Davison scored all three of its goals in the first half, with Tressa Graty booting in the first in the game’s first five minutes. Two minutes later, Taylor Hitchcock increased the cushion to 2-0 and with eight minutes remaining in the half, Cassidi Scott put the Lady Cards up, 3-0. Goodrich finally netted its first goal by Jolynn Zirnhelt, but her second goal with 27 minutes left in the second half was all the Martians could muster.
“I thought it was a good game,” said coach Jim Gunnell. “We controlled most of the possession and our center mids played well, with Ricci Covert and Scott controlling the middle for us for most of the game with just a few breakdowns.”
Gunnell noted that his squad is on the winning track and looking forward to the rematch with Flushing today at Flushing. In the teams’ last meeting, Flushing shut out Davison, 2-0.
Gunnell also hopes to get three players back, after nationals and band commitments have forced him to shuffle his lineup. With Fenton on the slate Friday and Carman-Ainsworth coming to town next Monday, that will be key. However, JV players Haley Thatcher and Jamie Metcalf contributed for Davison, while several players took care of other school business. Goalie Lauren Bellamy took a hard hit in the game and had 11 saves before she had to leave the game after a full-body hit from a Goodrich player. Taylor Varner replaced her and made two saves.
“We’re making progress, and hopefully we can keep going in the right direction. We played Powers, Flushing and Grand Blanc close, so we’d like to get some of the key wins, and we are capable,” Gunnell said.
Last Friday, Davison ended in a 1-1 tie against the Flint Metro’s Lapeer West at West. The Lady Cardinals outshot West, 16-9. Scott scored first in the first half with 16 minutes left. Bellamy made four saves.
“The girls were doing a good job controlling the ball and retaining possession,” Gunnell noted. “I thought our girls played very good, especially with six out. Three had a band commitment, and three others were at a national competition in Atlanta, so I pulled up several from the JV to fill the holes.”
West’s Dani Schoenherr scored the equalizer with 2:07 left in the game.
Gunnell said that his squad had a slight breakdown and left Schoenherr wide open.
“It was a good game for us after playing some of the toughest teams in the state, and it helped us turn the tide.”