Pine Tree Opens Season With 3-0 Shutout of Nacogdoches at Lady Pirate Tournament

LONGVIEW -- Thursday's season-opening soccer match was business as usual for Pine Tree's Lady Pirates, which showed their balance with a 3-0 shutout victory over Nacogdoches at the Lady Pirate Tournament at Pine Tree Stadium.

Pine Tree, which is ranked No. 7 in Class 4A Region II by the Texas Association of Soccer Coaches, scored two first-half goals to build an early lead, then added a third in the second half for the three-goal victory margin.

"I felt like it was a good start," said 11th-year PT coach Daniel Rich. "We're just working on fitness, working on the small things, and playing Nacogdoches was a good game for us to see our strengths and weaknesses and get a win."

Pine Tree career goals and assists leader Amanda Wallin played part in the Lady Pirates' first two goals. Ana Solis scored off Wallin's corner kick for the first goal before Wallin gave PT a 2-0 lead with her 96th career goal later in the first half.

"I think we came out pretty good," Wallin said. "We still have a few things to work through, but it's all coming together and we're getting there."

Amanda Cabrera, who joins fellow seniors Wallin and Emily Shelton as PT's captains, booted a second-half corner kick into the box, where Delilah Vancini flicked it toward the net, resulting in a rebound goal for Sarah Poff.

The three-goal production -- and plenty more scoring chances -- was not a surprise to Rich.

"Going into the season I felt like the offense was gonna be our strong point," Rich said. "Knowing that we have a lot of girls that can attack the goal and put the ball in the net was something I wasn't really worried about.

"Sometimes our defense gets overlooked because of our offense, but our No. 1 goal going into every game is not to allow a goal. We accomplished that today. The girls back there are just as solid as our forwards. They'll get their due and hopefully we'll start on a shutout streak or something that will get attention for them."

The Lady Pirate tournament continues Friday. Pine Tree plays Corsicana at 7 p.m. Nacogdoches faces Whitehouse at 10:30 a.m.