NSA girls’ soccer shuts out Gators

Published 7:56 pm Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Nansemond-Suffolk Academy senior forward Maya Venkataraman scored two goals in the Lady Saints’ 4-0 road win against Greenbrier Christian Academy on Monday. The win put NSA into the conference tournament. (photo by Janine DeMello)

Nansemond-Suffolk Academy senior forward Maya Venkataraman scored two goals in the Lady Saints’ 4-0 road win against Greenbrier Christian Academy on Monday. The win put NSA into the conference tournament. (photo by Janine DeMello)

The Nansemond-Suffolk Academy girls’ soccer team ended its 2015 regular season with a 4-0 road victory over Greenbrier Christian Academy on Monday evening.

“They played very well,” NSA coach J. Michael Dick said of his Lady Saints.

The Lady Gators have struggled significantly this year, going winless in the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools.

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Meanwhile, Monday’s victory improved Nansemond-Suffolk’s conference record to 2-7 and allowed it to claim the last seed in the TCIS tournament.

Senior Maya Venkataraman and freshman Kate Lutz scored goals to put the Lady Saints up 2-0 at halftime. Venkataraman added another goal about seven minutes into the second half.

Around that time, Dick began to make lineup changes and to move his players around.

“If they were nursing injuries, they were off and done, and then if they were fully functional, if they were playing, they were not in their normal starting positions,” he said.

Usual center defender Kelly Hogan, a sophomore, played up on offense and scored the final goal of the game with about 22 minutes remaining.

NSA managed to do well in this particular contest without an important part of its offense — junior forward Katie King.

“She’s been out for the last couple of weeks,” Dick said. “She got her shoulder dislocated (on April 21) in the Norfolk Academy game, late in the second half.”

The coach said that something he thought ultimately gave his team the edge against Greenbrier Christian was the fact his team still had the opportunity to earn a berth in the conference tournament.

“We had more to fight for,” he said.

Nansemond-Suffolk (6-11-1, 2-7) visited Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School on Tuesday afternoon in the TCIS tournament quarterfinals. The Lady Crusaders were undefeated entering the game, according to MaxPreps.com.