​Childers five-goal effort helps Eagles rout Bears 7-0

by Michael Smith


Last season, Emma Thiessen and Radleigh Childers formed a dynamic scoring duo for the Grain Valley girls soccer team.

Now that Thiessen has graduated and is now playing soccer for the Truman, Childers, a junior, is drawing more attention from opposing defenses.

That’s what she was up against in Monday’s Suburban White Conference opener against William Chrisman at Moody Murray Memorial Field. Despite Chrisman’s defense focusing on stopping her, Childers still had a big night, scoring five goals in a 7-0 rout of the Bears.

“No matter how much a team focuses on her, she finds a way to exploit the other team,” Chrisman head coach Justin Schmidt said, “whether it’s with give-and-gos in the midfield and making runs past the back line. Her knowledge and skill make her an incredible player.”

Childers benefitted from Grain Valley spending most of the game on the attacking third of the field. She scored two of Grain Valley’s first three goals, which were sandwiched around a goal from junior Alayna Maybell, which she assisted on a cross. She completed her hat trick late in the first period when she knocked in a header off a corner from junior Taylor Nicholson.

In the second half, Childers scored on a pair of break aways, one on a long through ball from junior Mia Cole and a long pass next to the right sideline senior Isabel Lopez.

So far, through four games, Childers has handled the extra defensive attention well. After her outburst on Monday, she now has 10 goals on the season. She also almost broke the single-game record for most goals in a game, which is held by her older sister,

“Ally (Gilbert) and Mia (Cole) help me a lot,” Childers said of handling being double and triple teamed. “Our midfield has been doing great. Straight down the middle with our center backs, center mid and forwards are solid.

“We are able to build wide and we can build from the back to get up the field.”

Lewis noted Childers will have to make some tweaks and adjustments to continue to have success facing double and triple teams.

“She has to learn to play with her back to the goal a little bit, so other players can exploit the space behind her,” Lewis said. “She’s learning and growing still. If she is going to have several defenders around her, she will have to learn to play off Ally (Gilbert), Mia (Cole) and Alayna (Maybell).”

Gilbert should be a key part of the offense, as well. She scored her first goal of the season Monday with 1:27 left in the first half as she received a cross from sophomore Emily Hooper and she blasted a shot off the hands of Bears goalkeeper Kenley Nichols which ricocheted into the net to give the Eagles a 5-0 advantage.

Because she scored her first goal of the game, Lewis awarded Gilbert a bedazzled soccer ball decorated with fake diamonds that has the letters “MVP,” which is presented to the most valuable player of each game.

“It took a bit longer than I wanted,” Gilbert said, “but I got it and that’s one and hopefully a lot more to come.”
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Senior Ally Gilbert, left, scored her first goal of the season, while junior Radleigh Childers had five scores in a 7-0 blowout of William Chrisman Monday at Moody Murray Memorial Field in girls soccer action. Photo credit: Michael Smith