In the soccer spirit

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I never played soccer growing up. I was strictly a basketball-baseball-backyard football child.

It's weird because youth soccer was really starting to pick up steam when I was a young'un, but I never played in my life until gym class in high school. And I was really bad. I have trouble walking upright without stumbling, so adding a ball into the mix is just a disaster in dexterity.

With that said, I've been on a huge soccer kick recently. I've watched a lot of the UEFA games and enjoyed them all. International soccer is always fun to watch, and I'm a sucker for any kind of tournament. I'd probably watch an international badminton tournament if one existed (and it might, I don't know).

In addition to that thought, I'd like to add that we have some really, really good soccer players in the area. The N.C. Soccer Coaches Association recently released its all-region teams, and Iredell County had 16 total players from all six county schools chosen.

That's pretty remarkable. And from my point of view, it made selecting the 11-member R&L All County team incredibly difficult.

Here's a list of our All-Region players, with All-County selections italicized, All-State members bold and our Player of the Year in all caps (you follow?).

Taylor Branton, West Iredell
Amanda Comer, South Iredell
Brittney Dailey, Mooresville
Alicia Danenhower, Mooresville
Rachel Gibson, South Iredell
Tara Johnson, Lake Norman
Meghan Kos, Lake Norman
Ashley Lail, South Iredell
Caroline Moffett, Lake Norman
Katie Register, Statesville
Claudia Solis, South Iredell
COURTNEY SMITH, Mooresville
Sarah Tang, Lake Norman
Lauren Vawter, Lake Norman
Sarah Ann Waugh, Statesville
Tiffany Wilson, Mooresville

Speedy Statesville

Monday's soccer match between Statesville and Mooresville may have been the most entertaining game I have covered during the spring season.

The Greyhounds - who start six sophomores and three freshmen - defeated Mooresville, the No. 8 ranked team in the state, 3-2 by using some incredible team speed.

That's what made the game so entertaining. Statesville's girls were flying all over the field, tracking down loose balls and ripping shot after shot. While the Blue Devils couldn't match that speed, they were the more technically sound squad, so those two dynamics really played out over the course of the game.

Statesville will either be the No. 3 or No. 4 team from the North Piedmont 3A to make the playoffs and they'll play on the road against one of the top teams from another conference. The Greyhounds will be underdogs, but like the team showed Monday, they can pull an upset by running the other team ragged.