Dawson County’s varsity soccer teams began their Region 7-3A schedules by visiting West Hall on Tuesday, March 7, with the girls team winning 3-0 and the boys losing by the same score. 

For the Lady Tigers, the victory extended their undefeated season, with the team posting eight wins and one draw so far.

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Dawson County’s varsity soccer teams began their Region 7-3A schedules by visiting West Hall on Tuesday, March 7, with the girls team winning 3-0 and the boys losing by the same score. 

For the Lady Tigers, the victory extended their undefeated season, with the team posting eight wins and one draw so far. 

Coming off an 8-0 win against Gordon Central and a 9-1 win over Lakeview Academy, Dawson once again controlled possession throughout the game against West Hall.

Head coach Chess Hamby believed Tuesday’s performance was not quite at the same intensity as those previous two games, speaking with the team at halftime about maintaining a high level of play regardless of the opponent.

“We kind of let [West Hall] dictate what we were doing, and we shouldn’t have been doing that,” Hamby said. “We let them wad us up early…we were trying to drive [the ball] through small openings, so we had to back up to go forward.”

While West Hall rarely posed an offensive threat, their defensive rigidity would occasionally interrupt the usual flow of the Lady Tigers offense.

Despite that, Elena Nelson opened the scoring early by flicking a volley into the net from a Harper Dussouy corner kick just eight minutes into the match.

After a few more scoring chances went by, Dawson doubled their advantage at the 23rd minute through Melodie Martin, whose 20-yard belter proved too strong for the opposing goalkeeper to handle.

In addition to Hamby’s talk with the team at halftime, new assistant coach Abbie Crane also 

encouraged the team to make adjustments for the second half.

According to fellow assistant coach George Graves, Crane has been important to the team’s success by helping instill confidence into the young players.

And as soon as the second half began, the Lady Tigers took an aggressive approach, scoring within the first two minutes. 

Senior Daisy Vargas Sanchez threaded a long through ball to Dussouy, who charged toward the goal and scored to give Dawson instant momentum. 

The Lady Tigers held onto that lead for the rest of the game, giving themselves a strong start to a region slate that does not get any easier. 

“I told the girls that we play in a very good region in our state,” Hamby said. “We can’t have a down moment. We can’t have a down half. Having an off half or off 10 minutes could be the difference between a region championship or not.”

The boys team came into the game against West Hall having won against Lakeview Academy despite dealing with a litany of injuries, including to key offensive players Sheppard Kohler and Alessandro Franco. 

While midfielder Junior Sanchez was back in the lineup after his own injury, he was often brought in and out of the game as a precaution.

In the face of those issues, the Tigers played a strong opening 20 minutes against the Spartans by creating several positive offensive possessions. 

But a defensive error by Dawson allowed West Hall to get on the board with around 26 minutes played in the game. 

The second half saw even more offensive opportunities for the Tigers, with Hector Tenorio, Jacob Felkai and Saul Ruiz all making positive contributions.

But those missed chances would eventually come back to hurt the Tigers, as the Spartans scored two quick goals late in the match to give Dawson a 3-6 record.

“We needed to finish…we had four [chances] in front of goal in the first half,” head coach Patrick Muenchen said. “I liked our intensity.”

Dawson County traveled over to Greensboro on Thursday, March 9, to face Lake Oconee Academy for the final non-region matchup of the season.

Sanchez and Dussouy led the way with two goals apiece to give the Lady Tigers a 4-0 win, while the boys drew 1-1 against the Titans, with Jacob Felkai bringing the Tigers level after falling behind early. 

Next week, Dawson will visit Gilmer on Tuesday, March 14, before coming home to host Pickens on Friday, March 17.