WhitehouseTexas.com

In a battle of the two best girls soccer teams in East Texas, Robert E. Lee proved that it’s a cut above neighboring Whitehouse, defeating the LadyCats 2-0 Tuesday in their non-district tilt at Wildcat Stadium.

It was Whitehouse’s (8-1) first loss of the season while Lee raises its mark to 4-1. The Lady Raiders scored both goals in the first half.

Senior Jessi Morgan put her side in front with a volley off a cross from sophomore Sarah Perry in the 22nd minute. Lee added a second in the half’s final minutes when sophomore Kendall Frizzell took advantage of a miss-kick from a Whitehouse defender to sneak in and fire a shot past LadyCats freshman keeper Melissa Camp.

The two goals Whitehouse allowed were the most the LadyCats have given up all season.

And it could have been more if not for some terrific goalkeeping from Camp. Lee riddled the Whitehouse goal with shots in the opening 40 minutes, forcing nine saves from Camp. Several of Camp’s stops were diving saves to deny Frizzell, Ashton Morris (twice) and Ashleigh Jameson (twice).

“Their goalkeeper was good,” said Lee head coach Chris Woodard. “She definitely kept them in the game. It could have been six or seven (goals), had she not made those saves.”

All told, Lee outshot Whitehouse 15-1 in the first half. The LadyCats started gaining confidence in the second half, thanks to strong midfield play from sophomore Lindsay Pritchard, who set up several scoring chances while also registering three second-half shots of her own. One of her free kicks went just over the cross bar, and she had a header deflect wide off a corner kick from Heather Lofties.

“I think we were a little intimidated in the first half, but once we settled down in the second and realized that (the Lady Raiders) are normal high school girls, it made a difference,” said Whitehouse head coach Brad Jones. “This is the first time I’ve seen Lee, and they are very fast, very well organized and fun to watch. It was a great game for us. We have to play teams like this to get us ready for the playoffs.”

Lee’s depth started to wear down Whitehouse late in the second half, causing Camp to make several more saves on shots from Lauren Smith, Jameson and Emily Arnold.

In the game, Lee finished with 24 shots compared to six for Whitehouse.

“We completely dominated them in the first half, and then came out in the second half and weren’t looking to go to the goal,” Woodard said. “I think (Whitehouse) has a solid team, but I think the score was a whole lot closer than the game was. I thought they did play better in the second half, but we had something to do with it.”

Subvarsity: Lee JV blanked Whitehouse JV, 5-0. Julia Arnold scored twice and had an assist, Beth Ann McCloskey had two goals and an assist, Michelle Dougherty scored a goal and Devin Dickey had an assist. The win raises the Lady Raiders to 2-0 while Whitehouse falls to 3-1.