FHS dominates

Lady Bulldogs’ Adkins nets five goal in bi-district

By Mike Pervel
St. Tammany News
Published on Sunday, February 7, 2010 12:26 AM CST



Fontainebleau’s Lady Bulldogs soccer club remained unbeaten firing on all cylinders Friday scoring early and often in the bi-district round of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association state playoffs at the Dawg pound. Fontainebleau junior Casey Adkins blasted in five goals and senior Mallory Richardson tallied twice and was credited with three assists to spearhead the Lady Bulldogs to a convincing 12-0 playoff victory over the Chalmette Lady Owls.

FHS (23-0-2), the No. 1 seed and the No. 1 ranked team in Division I, faces off with the winner of the East Ascension-St. Joseph’s match in the regional round. Chalmette finishes its season 6-9-1 after posting a 6-4 record in district play.

Adkins talked about being proud of her teammates.

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“I was just really happy because we were trying to start off on a good note. We knew we had to win to go on and we’re looking forward to work hard and get back to the state championship game (Fontainebleau lost to SSA 4-0 last year).”

Fontainebleau has a number of offensive weapons and played an unselfish match with tremendous passing.

Adkins credited her teammates with doing a fantastic job.

“We are unselfish. Sometimes we get into a habit of passing too much. We don’t want to be selfish with the ball. I think Somer (Jones), Shelby (Latino) and Katie (Folse) did a great job getting me the ball. I was fortunate enough to be the one there to get it,” Adkins said.

“Our players were really taking it down the line and did a great job getting the crosses off. It starts from them getting the crosses and I just try to be there in the center to have a chance to finish,” Adkins added.

Adkins, who took over as the team’s leading scorer with 27 goals, said the Lady Bulldogs have a great team.

“It is a tremendous atmosphere. We enjoy being around each other so much and we work hard for each other. We stress working hard and being there for that second ball.”

Fontainebleau fourth-year coach Carly Hotard praised the play of Adkins.

“Casey has been tremendous for us all season long. We have this ability as a team that if one girl isn’t on somebody else will step up. Casey is one of the one’s we can count on to step up,” Hotard said.

“We got our touches under control on a sloppy field and they did well. They moved the ball well and communicated well,” Hotard added.

Adkins dominated play during the first 13 minutes booting home her club’s first four goals. Adkins and her teammates wasted little time getting on the scoreboard polishing off a goal in just the second minute assisted by freshman Somer Jones, who made a nice cross to Adkins who headed the ball in. Adkins punched in her second goal just two minutes later assisted by Katie Folse. Adkins notched in her third goal with Hannah Leumas credited for an assist as she beat the Lady Owl’s defense and found Adkins to make it 3-0 in the 11th minute. Leumas has netted 20 assists on the season. Just two minutes later, Adkins finished off her fourth talley assisted by Folse from about 18 yards out in the middle of the field.

In the 19th minute, Leumas launched a shot from long-range that found the back of the net to push the margin to 5-0 with Morgan Meyer on the assist. Meyer joined the scoring column knocking in a goal in the 22nd minute with Mallory Richardson getting the first of her three assists.

Jones delivered a goal in the 26th minute assisted by Mallory Richardson to push the advantage to 7-0. Jones’ tally gave her 25 goals on the year.

Mallory Richardson entered the scoring column in the 32nd minute assisted by Shelby Latino.

The Richardson sisters combined for the Lady Bulldogs’ final goal of the first half in the final minute. Mackenna put away the goal assisted by Mallory to give FHS a 9-0 cushion at the intermission.

At the start of the second half, Fontainebleau public address announcer Bret Villars, the father of Lady Dawgs’ senior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Villars, wished FHS senior defender Alexa Herbers (18) a Happy Birthday! Herbers, a team co-captain along with Villars, signed her national letter of intent Wednesday to attend the University of Central Arkansas. Villars played the first half and junior Hannah Hail played the second half for the Lady Dawgs.

Fontainebleau kept up the offensive pressure tacking on its 10th goal courtesy of Adkins six minutes into the second half with Jones on the assist. Jones tops the Lady Dawgs with 22 assists. Mallory Richardson built the lead to 11-0 in the 53rd minute assisted by her sister Mackenna as the Richardson’s traded roles for the goal. Latino rounded out the scoring in the 68th minute assisted by Megan Simon.

Chalmette sophomore goalkeeper Courtney Urquhart was peppered by the Fontainebleau offense from all angles throughout the match.

The Chalmette defense was no match for the FHS high-powered offense, but Urquhart came up with some nifty saves on close-range shots and was credited with 14 saves.

Chalmette coach Jennifer Gioia, who helped form the program four years ago following Hurricane Katrina, said despite the score she was proud of her team’s effort.

“We knew what we would be up against playing the No. 1 team in the state and it didn’t discourage us. We wanted to stay focused because we want to continue our program in order to play in games like this. This is instructive for us because when you play good teams it shows us where we want to be and we keep working hard,” Gioia said.


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