By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Sylvan Hills Lady Bears stayed unbeaten in 5A-Southeast Conference play with a 6-1 victory over rival North Pulaski at Falcon Stadium on Tuesday.
Freshman midfielder Abi Persson scored three goals for the Lady Bears (5-2, 3-0) while Naomi Gregory scored two. Freshman Cayln Fulton scored one goal for Sylvan Hills and was poised to add to the Lady Bears’ lead in the second half but narrowly missed three shots.
North Pulaski senior midfielder/forward Stephanie Alvis denied Sylvan Hills a shutout with a goal in the first half.
The teams are Pulaski County rivals but there were no examples of bad sportsmanship, Sylvan Hills coach Nate Persson said.
“What I appreciated was that the North Pulaski girls played hard and fair and had good attitudes the whole game,” Persson said. “That makes for a real fun evening. Even though it got lopsided, they never stopped.
“You appreciate when there’s no bad blood in a game. It’s good reflection on their coaches.”
Gregory scored the first goal for the Lady Bears in the seventh minute and Fulton scored at the 9:44 mark.
Gregory followed with her second goal in the 14th minute. Persson scored the first of her three goals midway through the first half to give the Lady Bears a comfortable 4-1 lead at halftime.
Persson kept up her intensity to start the second half and scored in the first five minutes. She completed her hat trick with a sweeping move in front of the goal and then Fulton became the primary scoring threat for the remainder.
Fulton had two late breakaways and took another mid-range shot, but two went over the goal and her final breakaway attempt went wide right by less than a foot.
“She usually scores at least two a game,” Persson said. “It’s amazing that she just couldn’t get it down. And then she felt a little pressure.
“She got bumped a couple of times. It was a little tough for her, but we had a lot of fun with it.”
The Lady Bears have put themselves in position to secure at least a No. 2 seed for the 5A state tournament next month.
The comfortable margin of victory allowed for the Lady Bears to attempt a few late experiments.
“We had the freedom to move players to positions they had never played before,” Persson said. “Sara Talley is a senior — she’s always played the back position, which is the sweeper, and I suggested her playing forward, because she has incredible speed.
“She grew into it; she kind of liked the experience.”
