MURRAY — It is hard for Calloway County Head Girls Soccer Coach Tim Stark not to smile these days about the prospects for this season for his Lady Lakers.
Entering his fourth season at the Calloway helm, and having been a coach for the local Revolution program several years before he dove into the high school ranks, he knows the appearance of a team that is making big strides in a hurry. That is what the Lady Lakers have done every year since he began steering the ship. They started with a 9-9 voyage in 2022 and improved to 12-9 a year ago.
Steadily, they have cut the distance between themselves and crosstown arch rival Murray High but, this preseason, may have been the first real sign that this team is now a true Kentucky Region 1 contender. At a camp at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Calloway faced Nashville-area superpower Merrol Hyde and, though falling in both matches, those came by the same score — 1-0.
“And we were in both games with them,” Stark said Thursday night after his team may have taken another big step. At its Jim Nix Soccer Complex, Calloway pulled an 8-0 goal-rule knockout in a scrimmage with a Madisonville-North Hopkins program that swamped the Lady Lakers in a scrimmage last year. “Now, true, we know none of this matters right now. We’ve done nothing yet (in the regular season, AKA a “game that counts”) but there’s a lot of excitement in Lady Laker Land right now.
“We went to Madisonville last year and got absolutely demolished and they only lost two players from that team, so we expected a good battle tonight. We were just firing tonight and this should be one of those situations, going forward, where that’s our bar now and should be the goal of every game from now on.”
A big sign of how this program has progressed under Stark is the series with Murray High. No, the Lady Lakers have not beaten the Lady Tigers yet, but one thing not happening are the blowout losses that used to be the norm of this series.
Last year, in fact, showed how far the Lady Lakers have come in the rivalry as they fought Murray High to a 1-1 tie in the title match of the Kentucky 2A Championships Sectional 1 Tournament before falling in a shootout. In the regular-season matches that followed, the Lady Lakers actually had the lead at the Mallary France Soccer Complex before falling, 3-1, then fought the Lady Tigers for the entire 80 minutes before ultimately dropping a 4-2 decision at Nix.
Now, Stark believes his team has the power to not only finally catch Murray High but win Kentucky Region 1 as well.
Speed appears to be the name of the game for Calloway this season with its front line.
Already, freshman newcomer Anne Marie Arnett appears to be a potential major problem for opponents as her goal Thursday night showed. She blasted into the Lady Maroon zone from the right side, then slowed enough to softly pop a lob over the charging keeper.
Junior Raylee McClure is back to totally healthy after enduring a series of injuries a year ago. She has scored five times during the preseason. Classmate Karlyn Provine is another veteran presence, who also has shown an ability to get physical in front of the net and junior newcomer Brayleigh Harrison has also shown her worth during the preseason, while senior Alina Bernal is expected back on the field soon after being injured during the preseason.
This is where Stark believes a lot of his team’s scoring chances will originate and he has a three-headed monster in speedy and skilled sophomores Jadyn Stark and Mierielle Gupton and junior Finley Lencki. Tim also said these three possess something else that he believes helps make this trio one of the most dangerous in all of western Kentucky.
“They’ve been playing together since they were in the third grade, most of them (with the Revolution program), so they know each other, they know their movements and where each other is going to be. They just trust each other,” he said.
The Calloway defense starts with pint-sized junior Avyn Bazzell, who is more than physical enough to handle this position. She has a tag-team partner in freshman Aubree Morton, who Stark said is almost Bazzell’s twin in ability.
They have an unlikely third partner in the backfield, who was more known for offense her previous few years — junior Addison Jennings — who Stark said appears quite comfortable in her new position. Junior Sarah Doyle is also expected to provide depth, as are freshmen Aubrey Cain, Layla Barrow and Kesley Stewart.
The net is being minded by physical junior Gabriella Yocum, who is taking the place of dependable three-year starter Grace Barnes.