CULLMAN, Ala. – After stormy weather postponed Cullman’s area matches against Jasper Thursday night, the ‘Cats were back on the field to face the Vikings at the Cullman Soccer Complex on Friday. The Lady Bearcats pull scored one goal Thursday night to take an early lead before the storms hit and they added five more when play resumed to pick up a 6-0 win. In the boys’ game, The Bearcats scored in the first few minutes to take an early, 1-0 lead and tacked on five more the rest of the way to earn a 6-2 win.
Before the games were postponed Thursday night, there were plans to recognize the 30th anniversary of Cullman High School’s first ever girls’ soccer team. Several members of the 1995 team were in attendance on Thursday and before the rain arrived, I got the chance to speak with one of the coaches on the 1995 team, Rickey Kreps. Kreps shared the story of how the school’s first girls’ team came and reflected on how much fun he had coaching them.
“We had never had a girls’ soccer team before, but they had played recreationally. The other coaches Mike Hanes and Sue Williams had girls coming to them and saying, ‘Hey we really enjoy playing soccer recreationally and we would love to represent Cullman High School as a soccer team.’ So, they talked to the administration, and they said that if they can find a coach, we could do it. So, Mike called me, and he told me what we would need to do and that’s what we did,” Kreps said. “Mike and myself and Sue were the volunteer coaches and Cathy Miller was our faculty sponsor. We had 21 girls that signed up that year and 10 of them had never played soccer before. They just wanted to play because they had talked to their friends about it, and they were great. Their attitude was just phenomenal. From the time that we walked onto the field for the first practice they were just a wonderful group of young ladies to work with.”
Kreps was excited when he found out the ’95 team was being recognized. He’s now coached multiple children of his former players, including his own grandchildren, so the relationships he made in 1995 are still impacting his life to this day.
“I thought it was great. A lot of these ladies like Laura (Ruehl) who was our goalkeeper back then, I’ve coached her daughter,” Kreps said. “My daughter played and now I’ve coached my grandkids and there are several other players from that team whose children I’ve had the honor to coach.”
The 1995 Cullman High School Varsity Girls’ Soccer Team
Ashley Manos
Juli Leonard
Mallory Parris Adams
Dyroma Brown Burroughs
Kristie Wilkinson Caffey
Valerie Maddux Cowart
Jennifer Kreps Cupp
Rachel Peinhardt Dawsey
Christi Throneberry Henry
Katie James Kruger
Katy Chambers McKenzie
Meredith Freeman Middlebrooks
Katie McSwain Shirey
Meribeth Sparks
Jamie Luker Troutman
Katie Klopfer Beard
Sashari Caretti
Kourtney Lawrence Cuellar
Amanda Edmondson
Roxanne Branch Mauldin
Rebecca Hanes Miller
Cortney Hall Peed
Laura Taylor Ruehl
Amber Strickland
Cullman 6 – Jasper 0 (Varsity Girls)
Lily Lambert scored 18 minutes into the first half to put Cullman in front 1-0 before the weather delay stopped the game at the 21:51 mark. When play resumed on Friday, goals from Allie Bell and Eva Allen gave the ‘Cats a 3-0 lead at halftime.
Cullman added to its lead in the second half. Another goal from Lambert made it a 4-0 game and goals by Khloie Harris and Macie Manning put the finishing touches on a 6-0 win for the Lady Bearcats. Jasper finished the game with zero shots on goal.
In addition to her two goals, Lambert posted a pair of assists in the win as well.
Cullman 6 – Jasper 2 (Varsity Boys)
Gianpaolo Cipollari scored the first goal for the Bearcats off an assist from Josue Sanchez to make it 1-0 just a few minutes into the opening half. A goal from Reid Bissot put Cullman ahead 2-0 at halftime and the ‘Cats continued to pull away in the second half.
Grayson Meharg put one in the back of the net to make it a 3-0 game and Sanchez scored a pair of goals off assist from Meharg and Brandon Peña to stretch the lead to 5-0. After Jasper scored on the other end to make it 5-1, Peña score another goal off a Jed Hollis assist to give the Bearcats a 6-1 lead. The Vikings were able to score one more goal in the final minutes, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit, and Cullman secured a 6-2 area win.
Bearcats Head Coach Will Drake was proud of the way his team competed in an important area game with postseason implications.
“I’m really pleased with the desire the boys showed, especially in the second half. Things were tedious going into halftime,” Drake said. “Jasper is a good program and Gunter has them playing well. We knew we had to come out in the second half and play intensely to put the game to bed. In area games–tiebreakers–every goal you score or concede matters. We did what we needed to do tonight. Now we look to Mortimer Jordan next week.”
Copyright 2025 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
