Warrior Girls Win, Boys Tie In Soccer Match Against North Marion

Dunmore, WV – The Class Triple A North Marion Huskies Soccer Teams made their first trip
ever to Pocahontas County High School on Saturday afternoon, and their
Mapquest directions took them through Snowshoe and Cass for a longer than
needed trip to Warrior Stadium.

Warrior Girls

The ladies took the field second at the request of North Marion, and PCHS
easily won their third lopsided victory of the season, 5-1. North Marion
scored first, but that goal would be their last. The Lady Warriors are
loaded this season with six seniors, several returning all-staters and a
record 25 players.

Sophomore All-stater Samantha Walton tied the game at 1-1 with her first of
three goals, all in the first half. Someone will have to check the record
books to see if anyone has ever had a hat trick (3 goals) at PCHS in only
one half of play, and by a sophomore to boot.

Senior all-stater Morgan Williamson kicked a long bomb with 10:40 to go in
the first half to give the home team the lead 2-1.

The half would end 4-1 with Walton scoring two more goals in less than one
minute.

The only score of the second half, that was delayed by a key North Marion
player’s knee injury, was a drive by junior Erin White with 24:31 to go in
the game. The Lady Warriors remain undefeated 3-0 and have outscored their
first three opponents 17-4.

The North Marion girls lost a game to Weir, last year’s state runnersup,
5-1, this week and had a 7-0 loss to Morgantown the first game of their
season. Morgantown tied defending state champion the past two seasons,
Charleston Catholic, this week 1-1, so on paper the Lady Warriors could
easily be contending for a state championship as they did the last two
seasons! PCHS finished their season last year with a 12-8-1 record and
lost to Oak Hill in the regional finals 1-2.

Warrior Boys

The young PCHS boys with only one senior and three juniors on a team of 25
boys, are playing with none of their five all-staters from last season’s
17-2-2 team. The Warriors were upset in their sectional championship last
year by Oak Hill 1-2. PCHS was ranked no lower than third in the combined
A/AA (single A/double A) Division the entire 2009 season.

Senior Alex Rodriguez would score first in the earlier match after junior
Bill Kelley brought the ball up the field and took a shot that was deflected
and then perfectly placed into the net by Rodriguez.

North Marion would tie the score with 12:22 to go in the game with a kick
over the head of sophomore goalie Frankie Lambert. A moment of silence at
the beginning of the day recognized Lambert’s loss of his father this past
week.

The score would hold for a 1-1 tie. The Warriors’ record drops to 1-1-1.
North Marion had two losses also at the hands of Morgantown and last year’s
#2 team Weir coming into this game with PCHS.

Coaches Steve and Kathy White have taken over the coaching duties from
retiring coaches Mike and Mary Sue Burns. Mike Burns was named Coach of the
Year multiple times by state and league groups and was the winningest soccer
coach in PCHS history, taking both teams to the Final four in 2008. The
Warriors lost to Class AA Berkeley Springs in the 2008 state championship,
the furthest any PCHS team has advanced in any sport.

Next up for Pocahontas are games on Tuesday night at PCHS versus Class
Double A Phillip Barbour. The girls game starts first at 5 PM with the boys
following at 7 PM.