- John J. RQdcljff~ the December weather to defeat Steel, 2-1 in a close fought match. Rounding off their offensive game was Didier Villard with seven goals. Wade Dunn also contributed to Steels' offensive game by scoring six goals for the season. In regard to the strong points of their game, Coach Thweatt commented, "with few substitutes, we learned to work well together with who we had." On the. other side of the coin in soccer, was the Searcy Women's Soccer Team , in their second season of play. The Searcy womens team had an added asset this season of having soccer experience in the players but lacked the experience in the players playing together. The 1983 fall season was a complete turn around from the 1983 spring season . In the spring of 1983 the team won only two games out of twelve, and both of those wins were by forfeit. But with new faces and some experienced players, the 1983 fall season was more successfu . The Searcy women 's soccer team posted a 6-3-1 record and placed third in the CASA Amateur Womens League. The Searcy team opened the tournament in Little Rock against the Sting. Searcy stood up against the intense heat to battle their way to a 4-3 victory. Vivian Elder and Julie Lesnick sparked the offense by scoring two goals a piece Searcy's defense and offense overpowered the University Meical Center , in a 5-0 victory. Julie Lesnick took the honors for the day by scoring three of the goals.Vivian Elder and Martha Williams each got a goal. In their first home game of the season , the Searcy team suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Black-Eye Peashooters, the number one team in the tournament. In the first half , the Searcy offense and defense had a slow start and the Peashooters took advantage by scoring four goals. In the second half, Julie Lesnick scored for Searcy off a pass from Vivian Elder. The defense also came to life and held the Peashooters to only one goal in the second half. The Raiders couldn' t get their offense going against Searcy, and were defeated 2-0. Julie Thweatt scored the first goal off a penalty shot and Julie Lesnick added another goal. Against the second place team, the Soccer Sisters, Searcy fought a tough battle. The Soccer Sisters scored a goal at the en·d of the first half. Searcy had problems getting their offensive game going until late in the second half. After three strong drives down to the Soccer Sisters goal and coming up empty, time ran out. Leaving the score Soccer Sisters 1, Searcy o. Searcy had a rough time against the Black-Eye Peashooters in their next game. Searcy only had just enough players to play and two were playing with injuries. ·The Peashooters dominated the game offensively scoring eigh t goals. Searcy played well and had the shots but their shots either missed by inches or were stopped by the goalie. Searcy went home with a 8-0 loss. Going two games scoreless was not something that the Searcy offense wanted to repeat for the third time. But it seemed Searcy would be in for problems again, when they were at an eleven to ten player disadvantage against the Little Rock Sting team. Searcy opened the game offensively by Vivian Elder scoring with only being six minutes into the game. Less than two minutes later Martha Williams scored on a volley from 20 yards out. But the Sting came back to sco re two goals of their own to tie the game up at the half. With only fifteen minutes left in the game, Andrea Grimm fed the ball to Julie Lesnick to put Searcy back in the lead . Then to secure the victory, with one minute left in the game, Lynette Smith played a ball through to Lesnick, who slipped the ball past the goalie for the Searcy victory, 4-2. Going up against the Soccer Sisters, Searcy pl ayed a close match. The Soccer Sisters scored early in the first half. Searcy remained scoreless until Julie Lesnick scored with less than three minutes in the game . The game ended in a 1-1 tie. In the midst of water and mud, the Searcy defense stood thei r ground and kept the Raiders scoreless in a 3-0 victory. Andrea Grimm took the Searcy team to a win with two goals and Julie Lesnick also added one. In their final game of the season, the Searcy team took a win over the University Medical Center. The Searcy defense held them scoreless and the offense played a strong game sco ring eight goals. Julie Lesnick led the attack with three goals , Vivian Elder added two , and Julie Th·weatt, Martha Williams, and Lynette Smith each had one goal. With the confidence and experience gained in the fall season, the Searcy women's team was looking forward to the spring season.The goal for the spring sta ted by coach and player, Julie Thweatt is, "Everybody is an asset to the team. Every position is filled with strong players. If we put a lot into our training and practices, we can give the first place team , the Black-Eyed Peashooters a run for their money. " 1. 1983 Searcy Steel Soccer Team. Front row: Kee , Mackey . Carmack , Clifton . Back row: Hobbs. Villard. Dunn . Thweatt, Phillips. 2. 1983 Searcy Women's Soccer Team. Front row: Smith , Rackley. Grimm. Seger. Th weatt , Pheleps. Back row: Hinrichs, Elder, Williams, Lesn ick. Jackson , Tomlinson , Thompson . Hagler. 3. Enoch Thweatt leaps it, order to stop a would-he goal. 4. Vivian Elder advances the hall up field and then takes a shot at the goal. Secret Surprise At 4'11" on her tiptoes, Mindy Jackson had a secret surprise for those opponents that underestimated her ability as a soccer player. Mindy made up for her size in skill, ball-contro!, and quickness. Mindy said, "My height is an advantage in soccer, I am quicker on my feet. I can get around more easily than opponents that are taller or heavier. I shock most people because they don 't think someone my size can play this well." - lohn I. RQde/iff" Mindy Jackson slides as she tries to set herself up for a goal attempt. Soccer was a family affair at the Jackson home in Memphis. Mindy's father was a referee for state games. Her mother once played and Mindy's younger brother, David, played for Memphis State University. Younger brother, Bobby, played on a Memphis division league . Sisters, Colleen and Cathy, also played on a Memphis division league. Mindy began playing soccer in eighth grade and had been playing ever since . Mindy may have enjoyed tearing people up on the soccer field but in real life she liked putting them together, while she studied nursing . Viewing the disappointing spring season in 1983 compared to the fall season, Mindy believed the difference was because, "Last year we didn' t have enough confidence or skill to win a game. This year we had more confidence, experience, and were still learning. " Mindy said, "With time comes skilL It just takes time and effort to learn how to play and it takes a lot of practice. Once you play awhi le, you pick up on skills. But you can't be impatient with yourself. You can't expect things to happen overnight, because they won't." Mindy found that , "Since I have been at Searcy and we have so few with experience on the team, I have had to depend on my skills and they have improved. " ~ - Lynn Hil1ricils Soccer 67
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