By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
KellyAnn Chada registered a three-goal hat trick Tuesday night at the Bettis Family Sports Complex as Cair Paravel Latin soccer celebrated Senior Night with a 4-2 win over city rival Shawnee Heights.
KellyAnn Chada (20) scored a hat trick in Cair Paravel's 4-2 Senior Night win over Shawnee Heights Tuesday night. [Photo by Vince Lovergine/TSN]
“Just having so many fans cheering me on knowing my seasons at Cair Paravel are coming to a close, it was just very special to end like that even though we have a couple more games,” said Chada, one of four Lion seniors. “I’ll miss all the times that I’ve had here, so I'm glad that I got something to go off for my final few games.”
It hasn’t been the type of season CPLS has had in recent years, but coach Doug Woolery told TopSports.News that this game against the T-Birds could’ve been the game the Lions needed against a good program.
“It’s been a struggle,'' Woolery said. "We have some talent. I have a lot of young players and I think we're getting them used to our system and kind of gelling together as a team.
“Every coach wants to start peaking at the end of the season and I think we’re peaking. I thought this game was a good representation.”
Chada agreed.
“We've definitely grown so much through the season and Shawnee Heights, they're a good team but we just played to the best of our ability and that was something that was really special finally seeing everything that we've been working on coming together on Senior Night, that was great to see,” Chada said.
Shawnee Heights struck first in the first half when junior Nina Bolanos scored at the 23:00 mark.
Cair Paravel would even the match at 1-1, with senior Hemi Duehring putting one home deep inside the box after the play began from an inbounds play with 17:15 left in the half, ending the first-half scoring.
But then Oral Roberts commit Chada exploded for three second-half goals as the Lions took control.
Chada helped the Lion take their first lead of the match off a hand ball which positioned Chada for a successful penalty kick with 25:31 left.
About three minutes later Chada buried another goal off the right side of the box to make the score 3-1.
The T-Birds got back within one off junior Morgan Robinson’s goal with 16:49 to go in the match, but then Chada put the nail in the coffin, scoring off a rebound from a corner kick with 6:23 remaining.
“She's (Chada) just got so much talent to be able to hit the ball well almost from anywhere in that attack third of the field,'' Woolery said. "I thought it was a great opportunity for her and I'm so happy for all my seniors but especially her on Senior Night to have such a great game,” Woolery said.
“You think as a coach, 'How can I help that player be better because she is so good?' '' Woolery said. "But she's coachable and she takes constructive criticism well if I have it, but she also has great insight into the game and her soccer IQ is really high.
"She's a voice of wisdom, so I often times will bounce ideas off her. I'm going to miss her. It's something you get used to after a number of years where you have your players that stick with you for so long and then all of a sudden they're moving on to bigger and better things.”
