EDW soccer trying to make deep postseason push

The E.D. White girl’s soccer team knew they’d face a bit of an uphill battle early this season because of a youthful roster.

But with the pieces now lining into place, the Lady Cardinals believe they are playing their best soccer n just in time for the meat of the district schedule.

E.D. White has overcome a shaky start to the season and is now firing on all cylinders in the second round of district play.

The Lady Cardinals showed a little bit of that polish Thursday in a decisive shutout win over South Terrebonne.

“We’ve elevated so much since the beginning of the season,” sophomore sweeper Morgan Becnel said. “We’ve really gotten a lot better. And that’s exciting to us going forward.”

The Lady Cardinals knew coming into the season that they were talented n they just didn’t necessarily know where all of the pieces fit into the grand scheme of things.

Becnel and senior Allie Falgout said that E.D. White had several different lineups and rotations in the beginning of the season.

The changes affected the team’s on-field chemistry in the early season, which caused the team’s play to suffer.

“We have a lot of young girls playing a lot of different positions,” E.D. White assistant coach Jeremy Robichaux said, filling in for head coach Don Grabert, who missed the game with the Lady Gators for a track meet. “We think we kind of found out where we need them to be n what positions everyone needs to be playing at certain times in the game. We’re playing well.”

“We have a lot of younger players and we just sort of had to figure out who to play where,” Becnel added in agreement with her coach. “We’ve got it sort of figured out now and we’re really starting to gel.”

When the Lady Cardinals gel n it’s really a beautiful thing to see.

Unless, of course, if you’re E.D. White’s opponent. Then, it’s a nightmare.

E.D. White has a very balanced offensive attack that is capable of scoring goals in bunches.

Falgout said the Lady Cardinals are at their best when momentum is on their side and are quickly able to turn one goal into a multi-goal barrage in no time.

They did that against South Terrebonne, scoring four opening half goals to put away the game for good.

“Once we score a few, we just continue to score,” Falgout said. “We play very well with momentum. … We have a lot of strong legs and a lot of girls who can score from very far outside the goal, so that helps.”

The exciting thing about E.D. White’s offensive outburst is that the team believes they have plenty room to improve.

Robichaux and Falgout said E.D. White struggled in the early weeks of the season with finishing prime scoring chances.

If the Lady Cardinals can start to consistently capitalize offensively, they believe they can elevate to the next level.

“The most important thing is that when we’re shooting now, we’re beating the goalie and finding the back of the net,” Robichaux said.

“Definitely finishing,” Falgout said. “We finished well [against South Terrebonne], but some days, it’s kind of off. We’ve got a strong defense, so if we can put goals up there for them, it makes the whole game different.”

With the second half of the season winding down, the Lady Cardinals are now focusing on the playoffs.

E.D. White’s playoff run wasn’t exactly a positive experience last year and the team lost a double overtime thriller to Northlake Christian in the second round.

The Lady Cardinals don’t want to have the same thing happen this year.

“We’ve kind of said since the beginning of the year that we wanted to try and make a deep run into the playoffs,” Robichaux said. “The way we’re playing now, you know, we struggled at the beginning of the year when we were kind of skeptical about it, but the way we’re playing now, we’re definitely coming around and are peaking at the right time.”