BY NIKKI BROSIUS
SPECIAL TO THE EAN
The soccer season is off to a great start at Marbury High School.
The Marbury Girls Varsity team participated in the West Alabama Invitational Tournament, held in Tuscaloosa. Last year, the Marbury Girls Varsity team went undefeated and won last year’s tournament. This year, Girls’ hard work and fierce playing skills lead them to take first place again. This is a first time in school history and only the 2nd team ever to win the West Alabama Invitational championship back to back. The only other team to ever win consecutively is the 2017-18 Westminster Christian Academy team.
The Varsity Girls went undefeated in this year’s tournament again, winning five games and only having one point scored against them the entire tournament. In the final game, Marbury and Hillcrest were deadlocked through the entire match. The game came down to Penalty Kicks (PKs) in which Marbury scored all three and Marbury Keeper Mackenzie Smith blocked all three for the win.
Keeper Mackenzie Smith, a senior at Marbury High School, has 48 career shutouts. Senior Emma Wainwright broke the school record for most career goals, currently at 50 with several games left in the season.
The Marbury Bulldog Varsity Boys and JV Girls teams attended the first Wiregrass Cup Tournament. The Boys placed 3rd in their bracket. Logan Lawrence and Ricardo Rangel scored 3 goals each. Senior Logan Lawrence placed 3rd in the free kick challenge.
JV player Arial Mangum placed 3rd in the free kick challenge and she was awarded the 12th Girl Award by the coaches at the tournament for her constant uplifting support of her teammates.
Here are a few words from Coach Brent Sowell:
“I am exceptionally proud of all our teams for the hard work, character, and camaraderie they displayed this weekend at both the West Alabama Invitational and the Wiregrass Cup.
At the Wiregrass cup, our Junior Varsity Girls team played very well against tough opponents, including two 7A teams. This group of JV Girls is going to be special, and they have really bought in to our program’s core values. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them.
The Varsity Boys placed third in their bracket and had an overall record of 1-1-1 in the tournament. I am proud of how they bounced back from their first loss of the season to win their final game in the tournament. It would have been easy for them just to take the third game off, but they went to work and got the job done.
This time last year, the Varsity Girls team had never won a tournament, but now they have won the West Alabama tournament two years in a row. To say I am proud of the girls is an understatement. They did exactly what they had to do to win, and I told them that if they were going to win the tournament, they would have to beat Hillcrest of Tuscaloosa in the finals. As it worked out, they did face Hillcrest in the finals, and Coach Bruce did an excellent job managing the Girls team, putting them in a position to ultimately win the tournament in dramatic fashion with a 3-0 penalty kick shootout.
All in all, it was a great weekend for the Marbury soccer program and I am very thankful for all the support from our parents, coaches, and players. At Marbury, soccer is more than just a team it’s a family, and this weekend was a testament to that.”
We can’t wait to see what the 2023 season holds for the Marbury Bulldogs!
