Peabody soccer finishes as district runners-up
By Gary Smith
Last week, the Peabody Lady Tide soccer team became the first girls’ squad in school history to play for a District Tournament championship. After falling behind early, the Trenton girls rallied in the second half but, fell short 3-2 at the end of the match.
PHS ended its regular season in a stellar fashion by winning their last four matches of the season.
“After dropping a tough one to Covington 4-3, these girls really stepped it up a bit and have been playing with more attitude,” noted Peabody Soccer Coach Joseph Wuchter.
Since the loss, the girls collected wins against Westview 4-1, Southside 3-1, Gibson County 4-0, Obion County 2-0 and Sacred Heart 5-0.
The Lady Tide added another weapon to its arsenal in that stretch as they welcomed back freshmen, Josi Greene, who returned from ACL surgery 10 months ago. “Josi is a special player and adds a lot of versatility to our lines. Her impact couldn’t have been more immediate or impressive,” acknowledged Coach Wuchter.
After subbing onto the field six minutes into the Covington game, Greene scored on her first touch, which was a brilliant header for goal off of a cross from junior Abigail Allen. Greene has scored in every match since, including two against Gibson County.
In that stretch, Bryn Hensley set the record for Most All-Time Goals for the program topping Shakira Cliff’s previous record of 55. Hensley finished the regular season with 58 career goals.
“We finished the season well with strong play from our seniors, Daisy Martinez, Jada Baker, Kaylee Franks, Makayla Jones, Jasmine Love, and Zoe McCall. This is the kind of experience and leadership you need to make a strong playoff run, especially with the talent they have developing underneath them. If we do what we are capable of, I think we can extend our season a couple more weeks,” predicted Coach Wuchter,
The momentum continued into the playoffs on Monday night at TCA, where the girls came away with a hard fought 2-1 victory. “We came out strong and I was pleased to see we found our forwards Jada, Jaz and Bryn early. Bryn was able to power one in there about 15 minutes in. It was nice to have an early edge, but we knew it wouldn’t be easy,” admitted the coach.
TCA leveled things at 1-1 early in the second half and looked to have the momentum until Bryn Hensley scored on a beautiful long distance goal that fell just underneath the crossbar.
“I have to give a lot of credit to our defense and keeper for communicating well and playing aggressively andhanging tough. And those goals by Bryn (Hensley) were impressive. The offense is coming together. Josi Greene assisted on both goals,” credited Coach Wuchter.
PHS advanced to the District Championship on Wednesday against Madison at Lambuth, but fell behind early and lost 3-2. TCA took advantage of two handball penalty kicks and a third goal to forge ahead 3-0 at halftime.
After PHS Coach Joseph Wuchter refocused his defense at halftime, the Lady Tide shutout the Lady Mustangs in the second half. Forwards Bryn Hensley and Josi Greene combined for goals to put Trenton back in the game. TCA fended off a late rally to preserve the 3-2 win.
Despite the loss, PHS advances to the Region, where it is bracketed to play at Adamsville on Tuesday. The match starts at 5 p.m.
