The high school soccer notebook …

Good help is hard to find?Not in Rowan County this season.

Area coaches have turned to some unusual sources for assistance with their girls soccer teams. At Salisbury, Jennifer Shoaf has enlisted the help of Hornet boys stars Daniel Butner and Seth Ruhlman. West Rowan’s Rich Erdman has his goalkeepers working out with his son Benjamin — a seventh-grader at West Middle.

“They didn’t even have soccer when Iwas in high school,”said a laughing Shoaf, who was handed the reins of a startup soccer team seven years ago when she arrived at Salisbury.

“(Butner) shows them skills, drills, tactics that somebody like me couldn’t have done.”

Butner, who earned All-American honors this season, coached the Knox Middle girls the past two years, meaning he knows the current freshmen and sophomores.

Shoaf had asked Butner about joining her. This year he agreed because he couldn’t commit full-time to Knox and his club soccer team.

“There’s nothing like having an All-American out there showing the kids different moves. They really respect that,”Shoaf said. “They’ve seen what he’s capable of.”

As far as the girls are concerned, the extra instruction is a good thing — for the most part. Every once in a while Butner’s drills get a bit technical, but Shoaf said he knows when to ease up.

“He wants it real bad for us,”senior Jennifer Bauk said. “I think he wants to be out there with us sometimes.”

The only Butner on the field is Daniel’s sister, Stephanie. But having him on the sidelines is just fine.

“It’s wonderful,”Anita Edwards said. “He knows so much and he can pass it on to us in a way that we can understand it. He’s our friend and our coach.”

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Butner probably gets a touch more respect than Benjamin Erdman. The Falcon girls don’t have any problem listening to the coach’s son —it’s just that they’ve given him the nickname of “Bessie.”

“I have no idea why,”Rich Erdman said.

When Erdman coached at West in the early ’90s, his son was always around. When the Erdmans moved to Virginia, Benjamin was the keeper on a high-level club team.

“Ben’s been playing ever since he got out of the cradle,”Rich said.

Since West Rowan lost its starting keeper from last season, Rich knew he could use a little help working with this year’s replacements.

Following Julia Hartsell’s shutout win against Salisbury last week in her first start in goal, it was hard to tell who was more pleased—Rich, Erdman or Hartsell.

“I’ve got to teach them something since I’ve been playing since I was 5,”Ben said

“I’ll take it from anybody,”Hartsell said of the advice. “He knows what to do and I feel confident with him telling us what to do.”

But he does know his place as a seventh-grader among high schoolers. He doesn’t get pushy or overbearing: “I’d beat him up if he did,”Hartsell said with a laugh and friendly push Ben’s way.

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In area action Monday night, East Rowan netted a 2-1 win over North Rowan.

East took a 1-0 lead into halftime and stretched the margin to 2-0 before Natalie Cameron scored with about 15 minutes to play.

“It was a really good game for us,”North coach Vince Connolly said. “It was an intense game, the kind of game we needed.”

Lacey Tompkins played well for North on the offensive end and was robbed by keeper Sarah Ivey.

“Tompkins had a goal for sure and she dove, acrobatic, just got her fingers to it and it hit the post,”Connolly said. “It was the best save I’ve seen.”

Pam Cleveland and Lauren West played well on the defensive end for the Cavs.

North (1-2) opens conference play against visiting Lexington next Monday.

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TheSalisbury Hornets got a 1-0 win at Forbush thanks to a goal from Anna Glasgow early in the second half.

Shoaf was worried heading into the match because defenders Jennifer and Katherine Bauk were out of town andStephanie Butner was sick and didn’t make the trip.

But Butner showed up during warmups and took the field after getting her mom to make the long drive.

“She was definitely not 100 percent, but she was able to come out and help us,”Shoaf said.

Keeper Courtney Desorbo had 14 saves for Salisbury and Edwards andTonya Fox played well defensively. The win moved Salisbury to 4-2 heading into Wednesday’s match at Statesville.