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Reese Oldfield’s blistering speed led to a trio of goals for Spain Park and made the difference in the Jags’ competitive area opener against Briarwood. (For the Reporter/Jeremy Raines)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – Standing in the defensive third at Lions Pride Stadium, Reese Oldfield got open for a pass and calmly collected the ball. Little did the Briarwood Christian Lions know, it would be the last pass of the possession.

The Spain Park Jaguars senior sprinted up the pitch with a breakneck pace, outpacing both of the Briarwood defenders who marked her. After running for more yards than her fellow Jag Corey Barber on a deep ball, she met face-to-face with the Lions keeper, who was ready to force an action.

Oldfield fired the ball just past the keeper’s right leg, and it rolled right into the back of the net for an emphatic goal.

One might have thought with her speed that she had just come on the pitch. It was more than 40 minutes into the match, and it wasn’t even her first such run.

Oldfield’s emphatic hat trick made all the difference in a 4-1 win for Spain Park over Briarwood on Thursday, Feb. 26 in a highly-competitive Class 6A, Area 8 matchup.

It was a hotly anticipated clash going into the night between the No. 2-ranked Jags and No. 9-ranked Lions, the former No. 1 team in America versus the reigning area champions and Class 6A runners-up.

Despite the scoreline, it did not disappoint as both teams went end-to-end for most of the 80-minute match and put the opposing defenses to the test with great build-up play and solid chances, with Oldfield’s three-goal night making up the gap between the teams on the scoreboard.

Also despite the scoreline, Briarwood struck first to take the early lead in the area showdown.

In the eighth minute of the match, Taylor Matthews got the ball off a turnover in the box and sent a pass to Taylor Leib, who fired a roller into the bottom right of the goal to put the Lions up 1-0.

However, the Jags needed just two minutes to equalize.

Oldfield made a run down the right flank and rocketed a shot straight at Briarwood’s keeper. The ball bounced off her gloves, but that didn’t end the threat as it rolled into the back of the net to tie the score at 1-1 in the 10th minute.

Ten minutes later, Elizabeth Gray broke away from the defenders on a run and set up a one-on-one battle with the keeper. She executed a ball skill to get the keeper to miss and leave the goal wide open for an easy strike to take the lead to 2-1 midway through the first half.

Briarwood continued to fight during the first half and got a pair of solid chances over the next 10 minutes. Leib’s shot from outside of the box in the 25th minute climbed just high of the goal, and Brooklyn Barnett’s cross a minute later barely missed a runner crashing into the six-yard box.

With the Lions unable to equalize, Oldfield teed up a shot from outside the box in the 35th minute and placed the ball in the bottom left corner for her second goal of the game. The Jags took a 3-1 lead and held it through the final five minutes of the half.

Leib nearly got a solid chance in the 42nd minute with a cross that hit the football crossbar, but Oldfield answered immediately at the other end with a threatening cross that went wide. Briarwood also got a curling shot that missed the net just two minutes after.

Then, Oldfield capped off her hat trick in emphatic fashion, running nearly the length of the pitch before depositing the ball for her third goal of the game and Spain Park’s fourth.

Leib barely missed the net in the 56th minute as her shot ricocheted off the right post and out of play. While the Lions got multiple chances over the final 25 minutes, none could find the back of the net.

Oldfield nearly added a fourth goal with a 76th-minute rising shot that eventually went over the crossbar, but her scoring efforts gave the Jags the 4-1 win to open area play.

Spain Park would go on to defeat Georgia’s Norcross 5-1 on Saturday, March 1 in a statement victory over the weekend.

The No. 2 Jags are now 7-1 on the season and will host the Shades Valley Mounties on Tuesday, March 4 at 5:30 p.m. at Spain Park High School in a non-area battle ahead of Friday’s road trip to Chelsea.

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