Years ago, School Superintendent Kay Easley dreamed of adding another varsity sport for girls to the offerings at Red River High School. It would be a soccer team and Jim Kilcoyn became the first coach. Unfortunately, not enough girls signed up to play, so the team became co-ed. They had to play as a boys’ team in district and season competition.
Fast forward to the end of the 2017-18 season. Coach Dawn Brewer had been with the team for a dozen or more years and still the dream of an all-girls team was alive and well. She found out the way Buckeye High achieved a split into both boys’ and girls’ teams was to schedule games and get the girls team into district competition. This lead girls at Buckeye to come forward.
So, Brewer set about getting games and finding a spot in district play for the team that did not exist. Not until sign up this past September. Many girls expressed an interest, including several that had played on the co-ed team last year.
On Monday night, November 26th, The Red River Lady Bulldog Soccer Team took the field against the North DeSoto girls. Eleven girls to battle a roster of twice that many from North DeSoto.
They did well. And the Lady Bulldogs received praise and complements after the game from North DeSoto Coach KJ Cunningham. She said, “It was an impressive first effort by your new team.”
Principal JC Dickey also praised the new team, “So proud of our Red River Girls soccer team, You heard me right. Tonight, was the very 1st game of girls’ soccer at Red River High school. We lost to North DeSoto but that’s OK, Because tonight we did something new and now we get to work and improve. Thank you coaches and my new girls’ soccer team at Red River. I am so proud of you all.
The ladies participating in Red River’s first Lady Bulldog soccer game were Erica Cason, Precious Gray, Victoria Rivers, Savueno Subwimol, Payal Patel, Hayley Loe, Maddie Allums, Savanna Campbell, Hannah Pickett, Jacqueline Contreras and Brianna Jones. Coach Brewer is in the middle bundled up in the blue coat. Allums, Cason, Rivers, Pickett and Jones are returners from last years co-ed team. Allums was elected First Team All-District Defensive Player and Rivers was selected for Second Team All-District. Remember they were playing in the boys division last year.
This season Red River Lady Soccer has a schedule of over a dozen games, including four district games against North Caddo, Evangel, Calvary and Loyola. They will also participate in the Bossier Bearcat Classic Friday and Saturday. The first home game is December 4th at Strother Memorial Stadium. And their first home opponent, you guessed it, the Buckeye Girls.
