Chuckey Doak began its girls’ soccer program in 1999, and as the program enters its 28th season, many things have changed.
The Lady Knights initially attended classes in a building that opened its doors in the late 1950s and, like most schools their size, shared playing surfaces with the football team. As enrollment grew, a new school opened in 2004, followed by a new playing surface in 2005.
Through all the changes, however, two things have remained constant; the steady presence of the coach roaming the sidelines and the winning tradition she has instilled throughout the years.
Coach Anna Ricker led her team into an important district matchup Tuesday evening with 299 career wins on her resume. After falling behind 1-0 to Cumberland Gap, the Lady Knights responded with six unanswered goals to not only give Ricker her 300th career victory but also improve to 9-3-1 on the season and 3-1 in district play.
An emotional Ricker described what the district victory and milestone meant to her.
“There have been so many girls to go through this program and work so hard with so much blood, sweat, and tears that they all, from 1999 on, should celebrate because this is for all of them and not just this team. Tonight was a fantastic win, both well played offensively and solid defensively. We were clicking offensively, finally capitalizing on a number of opportunities and working hard to hold them to a minimal number of shots.”
The Lady Panthers struck first in the eighth minute when Raylynn Parker sent a shot toward the goal that deflected off the Lady Knight keeper and into the corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Knights, however, did not panic.
Caitlin Larsen drilled the first of her four goals of the evening past the keeper just two minutes later to knot the game at 1-1 in the 10th minute.
Neither team was able to find the back of the net again until the 25th minute, when Larsen sent a shot toward the goal that slipped past the keeper before Lindsey Rojas tapped it in to give Chuckey Doak a 2-1 advantage.
Larsen came through again in the 39th minute when she broke free, made an open-field move and fired a shot past the defender to push the lead to 3-1 heading into halftime.
Larsen talked about how the momentum shifted in Chuckey Doak’s favor after Cumberland Gap scored the opening goal.
“The other team scored really early, but after that the momentum just switched, and everything just went our way. All of my goals were created by amazing assists, and I am so proud of my team.”
The second half belonged to Chuckey Doak as the Lady Knights continued to stretch their lead while keeping Cumberland Gap from creating any serious offensive threats.
Larsen picked up right where she left off, scoring in the 50th minute on an assist from Betsie Ramirez.
Brianne Bowers pushed the lead to 5-1 in the 69th minute before Larsen completed her four-goal night with another score in the 79th minute to cap the 6-1 victory.
Ricker spoke highly of Larsen’s performance.
“It’s obvious that we look to her to score the goals, but we have to be sure that she is working hard to score those goals, and tonight I don’t think that anyone worked any harder. Other teams know that she is our go-to girl and they are going to apply additional pressure on her, so it was good to see her work as hard as she did and come away with that performance.”
The Lady Knights will travel to Claiborne Thursday for a non-district matchup with the Bulldogs before returning to Lower Afton next Tuesday for their final district game of the regular season against University High and Ricker knows her girls will be up for the task.
“We know that they are a very solid team, but if our defense plays as solid as tonight and our offense clicks, we will see what happens. Maybe it will be a good game.”
