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Published Friday, February 17, 2012 in Sports

Photo by Bob Fraley

Charlotte West, an exchange student from Germany, gets a foot on the ball for Newnan before it ricocheted right to Lady Cougar teammate Julie Masonheimer for a goal during Thursday's 8-0 win over Sandy Creek.

Newnan girls soccer team continues solid start to 2012 season

By Doug Gorman

The Newnan Times-Herald

The Newnan girls soccer team is off to a fast start to its 2012 season.

Coming off Monday's 1-0 victory over Eagle's Landing in the team's opener, the Lady Cougars continued to explode out of the box Thursday night, getting six goals in the first half en route to a 8-0 victory over Sandy Creek.

Three Lady Cougars scored twice for Newnan -- Katelyn Robeson, Julie Masonheimer and Sierra Kellems.

Grace Gresham and Charlotte West also added goals en route to the win at Drake Stadium.

Amber Whatley and Julie Whatley added two assists each.

(To view or purchase photos, visit http://photos.times-herald.com/mycapture and click on Sports / Soccer for the photo gallery.)

Newnan enters the 2012 season having to replace 10 seniors including Kate Gallagher, Rebecca McCorkle and Margaret McMichael.

A year ago, the Lady Cougars finished with a 11-3 overall record and a 6-1 mark in Region 2-AAAAA.

Still, Newnan head coach Frank Henderson senses things starting to come together.

"We have some younger players on the team this year and some players playing where they didn't play last year," he said. "The good thing is we get four games before we hit our region."

Seven seniors return to the lineup including Gresham, who scored five times last year, Kate Lawrence, who had six goals and 12 assists and Roberson who enjoyed plenty of offense with 11 goals and 10 assists.

"I think we are going to be pretty good," Henderson said. "We have some veterans and some younger players who are already contributing. I feel pretty good about it."

Newnan will again rely on its defense as it contends for a Region 2-AAAAA crown.

A year ago, the Lady Cougars had 10 shutouts.

Goalkeeper Rebecca Whitlock also returns for Newnan.

Newnan is expected to fight it out with rival East Coweta for the Region 2-AAAAA title.

The Lady Cougars were knocked out of the playoffs after a 5-1 loss to Hillgrove last season.

Newnan plays non-region games against Shiloh, Spalding, Union Grove and Peachtree Ridge before entering region play next month against Newton.

"It's looking promising and we have a pretty good JV team, so the future is bright," Henderson said.

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