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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Calera Eagles secured second place in the Lakeshore Shootout Bronze Division thanks to an undefeated weekend where they earned two wins and a draw.

The Eagles opened the tournament with a road battle against the Pelham Panthers on Thursday, Feb. 15.

Pelham’s Claire Robinson scored in the matchup, but Calera outscored the Panthers with three goals on offense to take control on the game.

In the end, the Eagles took the county battle with a 3-1 victory to earn their first win of the season.

The next day, Calera looked to continue their run through the tournament with a battle against the Gulf Shores Dolphins on Friday, Feb. 16.

The Eagles offense continued to roll by scoring three goals for the second straight match.

However, the Dolphins went toe-to-toe with Calera throughout the match as it ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw.

That result kept the Eagles undefeated in the Lakeshore Shootout going into their final match of the weekend.

Calera wrapped up the weekend with a match against the Tuscaloosa Academy Knights on Saturday, Feb. 17 at the Eagle Sports Complex.

Three proved to be the magic number for the Eagles once again as they fired three goals past the Knights defense for the third straight match.

That left it up to the Calera defense to see out the win, and it stepped up to the challenge.

The Eagles earned their first clean sheet of the tournament as they shut out Tuscaloosa Academy to secure the 3-0 win.

Their perfect record in their three matches in the Bronze Division gave Calera second place in the division.

Pelham recovered from going 0-2 in their opening two matches to win its final match of the tournament to end the Lakeshore Shootout on a high note.

The Panthers took on the Mortimer Jordan Blue Devils on Saturday, Feb. 17 looking for a bounce back victory at home.

However, they had to overcome adversity in the first half when they conceded a goal to the Blue Devils. Mortimer Jordan held onto the lead until the halftime whistle to make the score 1-0 at the break.

Pelham needed a response coming out of the locker room, and it got just that from both its offense and defense.

Lacey Lambert and Emily Wester each scored a goal in the second half to fuel the comeback effort. Valerie Jamison earned an assist during the half as well.

That gave the Panthers the lead and left the match in the hands of their backline and goalkeeper to see out the victory.

Abril Guerrero put the finishing touches on a six-save performance for Pelham to keep the Blue Devils at just one goal on the day.

With that, the Panthers earned the 2-1 victory and earned fourth place in the Bronze Division standings for the Lakeshore Shootout.

Pelham improved to 3-1-1 on the season with the win as it continues its preparation for the start of area play on Friday, Mar. 8.

Lambert had three shots in the match with two going on goal and one becoming a goal. Wester converted her lone shot of the game into a goal.

Robinson and Valerie Jamison each had two shots in the match and Angie Lopez and Janelle Ramos each added a shot to give the Panthers 10 shots for the match.