Monday evening marked a monumental day for the Happy Valley Lady Warriors’ soccer program.
A late-match goal by sophomore Morgan Mallasch allowed the Lady Warriors to pick up their first-ever conference victory as they grabbed a 1-0 win over the Unicoi High School Lady Blue Devils.
“It is a tremendous boost in confidence,” Happy Valley head coach Eddie Morrell said. “It is great to see what you have been working for over a year and a half come to fruition.
“They finally understand that when we do things right — playing our game and not panicking — we can win ball games,” Morrell added.
Mallasch’s game-winning goal came at the right time as it sailed into the net with less than two minutes left in the game.
“It couldn’t have been better timed,” Morrell said. “It was a nice, long outside shot. She did a wonderful job placing the ball.”
The playmaking sophomore is a player that has really grown along with the young program, Morrell said.
“Morgan has been one of my quick forwards since she started playing as a freshman,” Morrell said. “She has a really good sense of the ball. She has only gotten faster in the last year and a half.”
During Monday’s match, the Lady Warriors had roughly 20 shots at goal compared to Unicoi’s five, which his something that Morrell attributes to his back line.
“My back line has a great sense of ball placement,” he said. “My center-back, Courtney Morrell, can direct the ball about any where she wants it to go.
“She is helped by both of the corners,” he added. “They were able to keep Unicoi from evening really coming close to shooting. . . The back line held really, really well and I am proud of the job that they did.”
The first time the Lady Warriors, who are in their second year of having a soccer team, met the Lady Blue Devils on the soccer pitch the match ended in a draw.
Now as the Lady Warriors continue their season, they will have to remember what led them to win Monday night’s match up, Morrell said.
“We want to take what we learned from the win and apply it later on,” he said. “We want to take the persistence. We want to play our game, which is spreading the field. We just have to keep pushing forward.”
The Lady Warriors will hit the field again on Monday, Oct. 5 as they take on West Greene.
They are a young program like ours,” Morrell said “… We are wanting to take the things we have learned and use them to pick up a nice win over West Greene.”