BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — The Lady Cards soccer team kicked off their season with some stiff competition playing against East Carter, Pikeville and Huntington High. The team thumped Pikeville 11-2 before falling to East Carter 2-6 and Huntington High 0-6.

The girls played East Carter in their season opener. A sophomore for the Cards, Laura Hale knocked in both goals for Martin County. Hailey Damron assisted on one of those goals and Marlie Fletcher had 12 saves at goalkeeper.

Coach Steven Gauze knew this game wouldn’t be easy to win. Easter Carter was a contender in the state tournament this past season and returned most of their players.

“We didn’t do as well as I had hoped. I knew we would be on defense for most of the game because East Carter went to state last year. The first half we did very good, only down 2-1,” said Gauze.

Despite playing good defense the first half of the game, the Cards wore down.

“The second half we got tired about 20 minutes in and started making mistakes. In the end we lost 6-2, but still not bad for our first game against a team like East Carter.”