Members of Hartselle High School’s varsity girl’s soccer team, from left, are: (front row) Audrey Dean, Sierra Keith, Sidnee Tidwell, Kaitlyn Patrick and Carrie Hanners; (middle row) Jill Ladd, Lauren Hogan, Tara Golden, Kaitlyn Thompson, Bailee Isbell, Caroline Long, Katie Henry; (back row) Molly Green, Audrey Woodruff, Shelbey Hatchett, Kimberli Teague, Maddie Long, Sawyer Swader, Masie Williams and Lori Milligan. | Special to the Enquirer

Clif Knight

Hartselle Enquirer

Hartselle High School’s girl’s soccer team  is demonstrating the ability to compete at a high level against older and more experienced teams this season.

Hartselle lost six seniors from last year’s team and currently has only two seniors on its roster.

“We’re young with a roster that has two seniors, two juniors, 10 sophomores and six freshmen,” said head coach Will Partlow, “but you wouldn’t know it from the way this group of girls is competing.

“In our first area game, we were tied at the end of regulation before losing on placement kicks,” he pointed out. “We were excited about that.  We’ve started to come together and when our sophomores and freshmen have a couple more year of experience under their belts, we’ll be even more competitive.”

Through last week’s games, the Lady Tigers were 3-3-1.

“Good leadership from our four upperclassmen is having a big impact on this year’s team,” Partlow said.

Senior members of the team are Lori Milligan and Kaitlyn Patrick. The two juniors are Kaitlyn Thompson Kimberli Teague. Each is serving as a team captain.

Partlow said improvements at the city’s Groover Road soccer fields are also creating new interest in scorer.

The Parks and Recreation Department has installed two scoreboards, catch nets and is over seeding the fields with rye grass.

“This is going to help Hartselle attract more soccer tournaments,” he pointed out, “Now that AYSO soccer is underway, we’re seeing more young kids at the soccer fields watching our teams play. That’s a good recruiting tool for us.”