Local soccer players lead North team to win in girls North-South All-Star game
Published 8:01 am Thursday, July 20, 2023
- A total of four local soccer players from Shelby County competed in this year’s North-South All-Star girls soccer game on July 19, leading the North team to a tightly-contested 3-2 victory. (File)
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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor
MONTGOMERY – It was another impressive summer in Montgomery for local girls soccer players as they carried on the tradition of success at the annual North-South All-Star game on Wednesday, July 19.
With four players competing in the game from Shelby County schools, two scored goals, making the ultimate difference in the final score of 3-2, while three had at least one shot on goal.
Spain Park’s Tatum Ahlemeyer, Oak Mountain’s Avery Smith, Chelsea’s Anna Nettuno and Briarwood’s Erin Gilbert all competed in the game, leading their team to a 3-2 victory with each contributing in different ways.
Ahlemeyer and Smith, coming off stellar seasons for their respective schools as juniors, both left their mark with goals in the victory, while Nettuno added a shot on goal and was strong in the midfield with Gilbert also putting together a consistent effort.
Ahlemeyer wasted no time making her presence known at this year’s All-Star game, opening the scoring less than five minutes into the game.
That gave the North team an early 1-0 advantage, which ultimately held up through the remainder of the opening period of the matchup.
However, coming out of the break, the South responded in similar fashion, scoring within the first eight minutes of the second half.
Katherine Brightwell scored the goal 7:08 into the period to even the score 1-1.
Another local player, however, had an answer for the North team.
After constant pressure from the team over the next 20 minutes, Oak Mountain’s Smith gave the North their second goal of the game 26:47 into the second half.
Now up 2-1, the team had grabbed the lead back and didn’t relinquish it the rest of the way.
Nahomie Mendoza scored another goal for the North six minutes later to make it 3-1 with less than eight minutes to play.
Th South did score a late goal with 1:04 remaining on the clock to create some late excitement, but it wasn’t enough as the North pulled off the one-goal victory.
All four players from the county were on this year’s All-County team as well, with Smith and Ahlemeyer earning spots on the All-County First Team and Gilbert and Nettuno earning honorable mention nods.
Now, all four will head into their senior season ready to build off of the summer success with one final ride with their respective schools.