I am the beat reporter who covered Lady Blues soccer this year, and I must say, I take offense to Abby McNaught’s opinion column on supposed bad coverage of the soccer team this year.

She contends that the Lady Blues loss in the NCAA tournament should’ve been front page material, arguably so. However, there is something called a deadline in journalism. It’s not much fun, but it’s there.

The game in question took place at noon on a Sunday. Two 45-minute halves, a halftime, two overtimes and a shootout later, you figure the game is done sometime just before 3 p.m. The coach and I touch base via the phone sometime later around 4 p.m. and I talk to him and some of the players about the game. An hour or two later the story is done and submitted, however, that is very late in the production process for the paper when it’s finished that evening and sent to the presses for Monday morning.

So given the time constraints, it was on a color page (far more costly than a black and white page), there was a photo accompanying the story and it was on the back page. When you think about it, the two most looked at pages are the front and back because no effort is required to see them. They are readily visible.

Not bad for no time.

If that is her only argument, I find it lacking.

Here are some cold, hard facts. Of all 10 Washburn Review issues during the soccer season, including one that was preseason, all had a soccer story in them. Out of the 10 stories, seven included photographs, four were on color pages, three were on the back page and one was on the front page.

It may not be the greatest coverage ever, but that’s certainly fine coverage in my book.

Do you know how many Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons I toiled away gathering information and crafting that information into stories? The coaches and players were all very accommodating for me and it was a privilege to cover them. I would do it again in a heartbeat. To be told that the Washburn Review showed a lack of support for the Lady Blues is laughable.

Even more laughable than a Republican still in office.