NEDERLAND — Madison Ledet got the Nederland Lady Bulldogs soccer team going early and they cruised the rest of the way against the Kelly Lady Bulldogs Friday evening.
Nederland would go on to score three more times Friday en route to a 4-0 win over Kelly at Bulldogs Stadium. The win moved Nederland to 5-2 on the season. It was the final tune up before next Friday’s District 22-5A opener at Vidor.
Kelly was not even supposed to be at Bulldogs Stadium Friday but stepped in to play coach Keith Barrow’s team when Hamshire-Fannett had to cancel against Nederland. The warm-up did Barrow’s team some good and tested their spirits in a cold atmosphere.
Nederland and Kelly played only 35-minute halves Friday and Ledet scored with 22 minutes left in the first half to give Nederland a 1-0 lead.
Nederland then played very sound defense in the first half and never let Kelly put much pressure on keeper Emma Roccaforte. She ended the night with five saves.
Jada Hoang scored Nederland’s second goal of the night with 1:50 left in the first half to give the Lady Bulldogs a 2-0 advantage.
“We were working a lot tonight on maintaining possession,” Barrow said. “We changed formations and we wanted to get a look at that before we head into district. I was very pleased with it.”
Barrow was also pleased with his defense and mid-line that suffocated Kelly for much of the match.
“The new formation does give us some strength there in the middle,” Barrow said. “It did what it was supposed to do tonight.”
The Lady Bulldogs scored twice in just about 2 minutes in the second half. The first goal came with a little bit of luck.
Kelly did the work for Nederland, which netted a point with an own-goal off a Kelly player’s foot. The own-goal came at the 21:17 mark in the second half.
Tatum Kieschnick then found the back of the net at 19:05 to make it 4-0 Nederland.
“I am very proud of the way our freshmen have come in this year and adjusted to things,” Barrow said of Nederland’s season through seven matches. “Our leadership has been great because having seven freshmen on varsity can be a challenge. The team has really jelled together so far this season.”