News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Cumberland County girl’s soccer team advanced out of the first round of the district tournament and head coach Cub Whitson said tonight’s match-up with Livingston Academy will be the Jets’ largest test yet.
With a 5-1 win over Watertown, the Jets are one step closer to their pre-season goal of being district champions. Whitson said they have faced the Wildcats before this season and his main assessment of the team was their athleticism.
“They’ve got a really good blend of everything you’d want on the field,” Whitson said. “They’ve got speed, they’ve got size and they’ve got strength. And mixed in their they have some really good soccer players as well. They don’t really have a lot of weaknesses just because of that athleticism that pretty much every player on their team possesses.”
Whitson said the soccer season is a long one, but he has seen steady growth and improvement from his team. He noted that the team seems to be peaking at the right time and have a clear strategy for the 10-2-2 LA Wildcats.
“We do a good job of making other teams improvise,” Whitson said. “We try to find out what other teams do well and we try to prevent them from doing that thing. Just make them find a different way to beat us.”
Whitson acknowledged it is hard to take away the Wildcats’ inherent athleticism but said he has a plan in place.
Livingston Academy comes into this game on a seven game win streak and have outscored their opponents 51-1 in that stretch. Whitson said the Wildcats are one of the region’s best teams, but
“Ultimately it doesn’t matter who we go up against, how good their record is, what players are on the field, we are going to do our absolute best no matter what,” Whitson said. “It’s tournament time, it’s an elimination game. Nerves, butterflies, all that is going to be there. What it comes down to is giving everything you’ve got.”
The Cumberland County Jets will travel to Livingston Academy for their second round district match-up, game starts at 5.
