MCHS soccer teams to begin postseason

By GEOFF STOUTE
gstoute@daily-review.com
Morgan City soccer coach Trevor Patterson said he doesn’t know much about the style of soccer that is played in north Louisiana.
He certainly will get his introduction to the north Louisiana version of the sport in the next two days, though, as his Tigers and Lady Tigers’ soccer teams both head north as No. 17 seeds to play No. 16 seeds North Desoto and Bolton High School, respectively.
The Lady Tigers’ game will be played at Bolton High School in Alexandria today at 5:30 p.m., while the Tigers will meet North Desoto at North Desoto High School at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Both teams are entering the playoffs on three-game losing streaks but the losses are to the best teams in their district and some of the better teams in the state in Vandebilt Catholic and E.D. White.
The Lady Tigers (10-13) and Bolton have faced two of the same opponents this year in St. Louis Catholic and Beau Chene. Both teams lost to St. Louis and both beat Beau Chene.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a blowout either way,” Patterson said, he’s interested to see how the match plays out because normally his team has been seeded higher and played teams with lower seeds in the first round.
Patterson said Bolton has two players that play club soccer and are moved around on the field.
Judging on the Bolton boys’ team being top-ranked in Division 2, he expects them to have a nice crowd out there tonight.
As for his advice to his team coming off a tough stretch, Patterson said he told them to relax and just worry about Bolton and nothing else.
“Just relax and think about what you’re doing out there,” he said. “Don’t just play kick ball and panic. The biggest thing is just to think. That is it.”
On the boys’ side Patterson knows nothing about North Desoto other than their schedule.
While he credited North Desoto for their ranking, he said he thinks the Tigers (9-8-2) have played a tougher schedule.
He had the same advice for the boys as the girls’ team heading into the playoffs as well as focusing on moving the ball around because if they do, they can do some damage.