Roundup: Lady Scots soccer defeats Southern Lee; off to historic start

LAURINBURG — The 2023 Lady Scots soccer team (3-1, 2-0 Sandhills Athletic Conference) is making history.

After earning their third straight win in an 8-5 decision over the Southern Lee Cavaliers (1-5, 0-2 SAC) Friday night, the Lady Scots are out to their best start in the first four games of a season in over 12 years*.

Lady Scots head coach Richard Snipes said the accomplishment was made possible from all of his girls’ hard work.

“It has everything to do with the girls; it has nothing to do with me,” he said. “I just put them out there and they play; I just do my best to guide them. We practice five, six days a week, so that helps out, as well.”

The Lady Scots went up 2-0 in the first three minutes of the first half, thanks to a pair of goals from Laura Wlodarczak at the 38:09 and 37:03 marks.

Southern Lee tacked on their first goal of the game with 29:57 to go in the half, when Ryan Phillips snuck the ball past Lady Scots goalkeeper Terra Anderson, before Emma Clark made it a Lady Scots two-goal lead again at the 27:03 mark.

However, the Cavaliers fought back with a Brooke Burrus score with 23:54 left before halftime to make it 3-2.

The Lady Scots started to pull away in the half though, after Valeria Carranza-Rueda, Wlodarczak, and Clark all scored a goal each at the 12:08, 9:46, and 5:14 marks to go up 6-2.

Burrus netted another goal for the Cavaliers with 3:50 remaining in the half, but Reagan Strickland matched that with a score of her own to make it a commanding 7-3 Lady Scots advantage with 1:21 left before halftime.

Rhianna Phillips made it a three-goal deficit for Southern Lee in the second half at the 36:26 mark, but both teams went mute on offense, until there was 8:10 to go, when Wlodarczak made it a foursome of goals for herself on the night.

Burrus scored the last goal of the game with 3:34 remaining for Southern Lee.

Wlodarczak finished with four goals on seven shots and had two assists, while Clark scored two goals on nine shots and also tallied two assists. Strickland made her goal on her lone shot attempt and marked an assist.

While Wlodarczak and Clark may have dominated the stat sheet, Snipes said it wasn’t just their effort that led to the win.

He mentioned plenty of other players who stepped up to help his team get the win, as well.

“Laura (Wlodarczak) played well, as usual, and so did Emma (Clark) but you had some other girls step up, as well,” Snipes said. “Reagan Strickland played really well, Joana Flores played well, Campbell Gross played well, of course Sam Barnes did, and then Valeria (Carranda-Rueda); that was the best game she’s played all year. She found her spot and she got a goal, as well. Even some of the younger kids like Karli Jacquez; she had a goal taken away but she was involved in the play and all that. But, they all played really well defensively; I know it says five goals…but today it was because that was a good strong team.”

The Lady Scots head to Cameron to play the Union Pines Vikings in their next game on March 21 at 7 p.m.

* = MaxPreps records for Lady Scots soccer only go back to the 2010-11 season.

Scotland baseball shutout at Southern Lee

The Scotland baseball team (6-1, 3-1 Sandhills Athletic Conference) suffered a shutout loss to the Southern Lee Cavaliers (3-4, 2-2 SAC) in Sanford Friday evening by a final of 15-0 in five innings.

Turner Bounds took the loss for the Scots, surrendering six runs on five hits over two innings, and striking out one.

Kale Scruggs earned the victory for Southern Lee, allowing just three hits over five innings, and striking out nine.

Next up for the Scots, they’ll play Union Pines in Cameron on March 21 at 7 p.m.