Jeff County earn 4-0 win over Lady Cyclones on the pitch
Published 1:23 am Saturday, August 31, 2019
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BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
Any team that enters the field of play does so with the intention of winning. However, wins can be measured by different standards based upon the outcome of the contest.
Although the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones felt the sting of their first loss of the season on the pitch with a 4-0 loss to Jefferson County, by the time the final horn sounded the Lady Cyclones had discovered that they are capable of playing with any team regardless of injuries, sickness and other adversities holding the 5-A Lady Patriots scoreless for 32 minutes of action.
McKendra Norris of Jeff County final broke the ice at the 33:10 mark of the first half when she took an assist from Kelly Cruz to give the Lady Pats the 1-0 lead.
Jeff Co. managed to squeeze another goal through before the half when Abbie Zander took a feed from Gracen Worley and found the net at 38:00 of the half for the 2-0 lead at intermission.
The Lady Patriots struck quickly out of the break as Laurel Orr gave her team a 3-0 advantage at the 45:50 mark of the contest. Zander finished the scoring with her second goal of the contest at 70:00 of the match.
One glance at the stat sheet showed that the Lady Patriots led in every category with a 19-1 shot advantage on goal and on the scoreboard, but freshman goal keep Megan Heaton also had a solid night as she recorded double-digit saves with 10.
Lady Cyclone head coach Bill McClay said that overall he was pleased with the way his team played considering how his team recovered from a so-so warmup period before the game to the way the game itself played out.
“With the injuries and everything that we have had, they were a little down before the game but they don’t feel that way now because it wasn’t 9-0. To get 32 minutes in before they scored – we defended well,” McClay said.
“We were talking about the opportunities that we could have gotten forward with the ball and a couple of players were just a little timid to commit to the offense but the easiest way to play defense is to have the ball.
“Once we get a little more confident in that and we are going to have games like this with both Morristown schools, D-B, Greeneville, and Tennessee High still to play.”
In defeat, McClay shared some positives that he took from the game against a very talented Jeff County team.
“There is a lot of positives. No one got hurt tonight and we got some good fitness in tonight and everybody seems pretty pleased if you can feel that way in a loss,” McClay stated.
“That’s the big thing is if we can take something positive away from the game. We know we can defend, we can keep our composure, and we have a good goalkeeper and all those are positive’s and we will build from that.”
The Lady Cyclones have a conference contest on Tuesday, September 2nd when they host Unicoi County at 6 pm at Citizens Bank Stadium.