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February 19, 2015First of 2 free flood risk discussion dinners tonight
February 24, 2015
Coming into the season, Vandebilt Catholic girls’ soccer coach Philip Amedee said he wanted his team to be better on defense.
It sure looks like the coach got his wish. Now, time will tell if those improvements will lead to a state championship.
At press-time on Monday morning, the Lady Terriers hadn’t allowed a goal in a month and a half – a 12-match shutout streak that started way back on Dec. 29 when Vandebilt blanked DeRidder in a tournament and carried the team all throughout district play.
With the defense leading the charge, the Lady Terriers are a state power, earning a 24-4-4 record and a bid in the Division II State Quarterfinals where they played Lakeshore at home on Monday afternoon with no available at press-time.
Whether Vandebilt pushes forward remains to be seen, but if they do advance, it’s likely to be the team’s defense at the forefront – keeping opponents out of a rhythm.
“The girls on that side have really just been so solid,” Amedee said.
“They’re solid, they’re tough to get behind, and they clean things up really well. We’re happy with how we defend, and we really think that they’re all doing a great job out there.”
For Vandebilt, a formation shift is helping to lead a lot of the defensive dominance. Amedee said that before the 2013-14 season, he decided to shift the team into a 4-2-3-1 alignment in hopes of boosting the team’s ability to limit opposing offenses.
Amedee said he knew he needed to make a move because he didn’t feel like the Lady Terriers had the depth of offensive firepower that they had in years past when Meghan Philip, Kim Grasso and Makella Pena routinely hung seven or eight goals on opponents.
The coach said Vandebilt ran the defense last season and had mixed success – mostly because of youth and inexperience.
But the coach said this year’s team returned practically everything on defense, which has led to the success in the second year of the system.
The Lady Terriers are also sound in the net with Emma Guidry and
Kayla Pitre deflecting or catching the few shots that opponents do place on goal.
“My defenders are my older girls who have been around for a while,” Amedee said. “That helps a good bit.
They are more game savvy and more experienced. We have a lot of leadership in the back. That’s something that really any soccer team would want to see.”
When Vandebilt’s defense is at its best, its offense is a direct beneficiary. Amedee said the premise of a 4-2-3-1 defense is to take possession of the ball from opponents and then counter attack to generate offense.
Vandebilt may not currently have that one dominant goal scorer like they did in yesteryear, but Amedee said the Lady Terriers boast a mix of young ladies who can hurt opponents, led by strikers like Grace Champagne, Julia Wood, Celeste Le-Compte, Emma Domangue and Jeanne Hanson, among several others.
“We want our defense to lead to offense,” Amedee said. “That’s the goal.”
So far this season, it has. But winning in the Quarters isn’t going to be easy, according to Amedee. The Lady Terriers have played Lakeshore in the playoffs each of the past several seasons with Vandebilt scoring a 1-0 victory last season.
The teams met in the regular season and played to a scoreless draw – the second game of the Terriers’ current shutout streak.
To keep it alive, Amedee said he knows his young ladies will have to play their best soccer of the season.
“They’re a very quality team,” Amedee said. “They play the same style we play. It’s two similar teams, and it’s going to be a great matchup.”
The winner of Monday’s matchup will play the winner of No. 1 Loyola and No. 9 Neville, which was also played on Monday with no score available at press-time. Amedee said both Neville and Loyola are quality foes and would highly challenge either Vandebilt or Lakeshore.
ELSEWHERE IN THE HOUMA-THIBODAUX AREA
The Vandebilt boys are also alive in the quest for a state title. They, too, faced a quarterfinals matchup on Monday afternoon with no score available at press-time.
The No. 5 Terriers rolled to the quarterfinals in style this past week, trouncing No. 12 Benton 5-1.
With the win, Vandebilt advanced to face No. 4 East Jefferson in a road match.
The two teams met once before on Dec. 6 – a match that ended in a 1-all tie.
But Vandebilt entered the playoffs playing some of its best soccer of the season, posting an 8-1-1 record in their past 10 matches, including the two playoff victories.
Against Benton, a dominant first half iced the win. The Terriers scored three first-half goals to overwhelm Benton, possessing the ball for the lion’s share of the first 40 minutes. Jonah Pitre (18th minute), Brennan Sonnier (29th minute) and Mitch Gautreaux (34th minute) scored first-half goals to put Vandebilt in a commanding position.
In the second half, Clifton Erny and Zachary Breaux got into the act to help punch the team’s ticket into the quarters.
While both the Vandebilt boys and girls celebrated second round wins, the rest of the local survivors went home unhappy.
In Division II on the boys’ side, No. 11 Morgan City stunned homestanding No. 6 E.D. White 2-1 in overtime, using a late go-ahead goal to seal the win.
In the girls’ bracket for Division I, No. 17 Terrebonne did itself proud by defeating No. 16 Dutchtown in the opening round of play. But the Lady Tigers couldn’t keep up with No. 1 Mt. Carmel this past week, falling to the dominant side 9-0 in the second round.
In Division II girls, No. 10 E.D. White advanced to the Quarterfinals by beating No. 23 Riverdale 9-0 in the opening round and No. 7 Lutcher in the second round.
But the Lady Cardinals fell in the Round of 8 on Saturday afternoon, dropping a close, 1-0 battle to No. 2 St. Thomas More. E3
‘They’re solid, they’re tough to get behind, and they clean things up really well. We’re happy with how we defend, and we think that they’re all doing a great job out there.’
Philip Amedee
Vandebilt Catholic girls’ soccer coach
Vandebilt Catholic standout Molly Thompson (left) eyes the ball during a match earlier this season. Both the Vandebilt girls’ and boys’ soccer teams stood 3 wins away from the Division II State Championship at press-time. Both teams were in the Quarterfinals, and played matches on Monday afternoon with no score available at press-time. See houmatimes.com for results.
Vandebilt Catholic standout Eleana Callejas (right) boxes out an opponent during a match earlier this season. The Lady Terriers have not allowed a goal since late-December.
