Suffolk News-Herald

It’s not that Amber Shaffer is lazy. It’s just that she’d rather have a boring day than an exciting one.

Unfortunately for the sophomore Nansemond River student, she wasn’t so lucky Tuesday afternoon tending goal for the school soccer team. But just as she so often did last fall for the field hockey squad, Shaffer shut her opponents out for the majority of the game, including the entire second half of the Lady Warriors’ 2-1 win over Churchland. Heather Proffit had a goal and assist in the victory.

After the Lady Truckers scored with roughly five minutes left in the first half, Shaffer knocked away or scooped up every scoring attempt of the second period to hang on for the win.

&uot;It’s hard to put it into words,&uot; Shaffer said. &uot;I don’t know what I was thinking. I wasn’t really nervous, just a little upset that they scored. I didn’t lose my cool, I was just hoping that we’d keep the ball on their side, because there’s less of a chance for them to score if they’re not shooting.&uot;

The second half was remarkably even, with both teams threatening on several occasions. With just over a minute to go, Churchland got a corner kick, and the ball sailed toward the center.

&uot;If it was close enough, I’d have jumped,&uot; Shaffer said. &uot;But it wasn’t, so I let my teammates get it out.&uot; The ball flew over a mass of players in the middle, and bounced to Sarah Krick on the left side. Krick knocked the ball toward midfield, where Katelyn Yandle and Hannah Moyer kept it from the Lady Truckers until the clock ran out.

Midway through the half, Gabby Ferraioli corralled the ball near the right side of the Churchland goal box. She looped it over a defender’s head to Proffit, who leaped up and deflected the ball past the goalkeeper.

A few moments later, a Churchland defender grabbed the ball in the right corner of the field. Proffit charged over, stole the ball, and sent it to the center for Natasha Hill, who smacked the ball past a charging keeper into the right corner of the net for ultimately the winning goal.

The boys team wasn’t as lucky, falling to Churchland. Rick De Triquet scored for the Warriors. Both teams will host Wilson on Friday.

Four was Lakeland’s magic number in a sweep of host Heritage. The boys defeated the Hurricanes 4-2 on the strength of two goals each from Gary Tull and Jake Conrad, and Nicole Klee had two scores and Kristin Brown and Stephanie Owen one in a 4-1 victory.