Lady Cyclones double up on South, 8-4
Published 12:01 am Thursday, September 19, 2019
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Lady Cyclone senior Kaylen Shell (11) takes a pass from Maggie Johnson (3) and makes a break toward Sullivan South’s goal midway through the first half.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Elizabethton’s Lexie Brown (18) delivers a corner kick toward South’s goal late in the first half.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Lady Cyclone senior Kaylen Shell (11) takes a shot on goal from just outside of the 18 yard penalty box arc
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Lady Cyclones Lexie Brown (18) holds off a Lady Rebel defender and scores Elizabethton’s second goal from just outside of the penalty box at the 26 minute mark of the first half.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
After the Lady Rebels goal keeper McKenzie Wallen (1) batted down a corner kick in front of her net Elizabethton’s Emily Jones (21) side kicked the ball into the net for the Cyclones third goal of the first half.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Elizabethton’s Baylee Creasy (15) steals the ball from the Lady Rebels Sydney Ferrando (4) and delivers a centering pass.
BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
KINGSPORT – On Tuesday evening at Sullivan South High School, the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones soccer team fired 20 shots on goal in an offensive explosion that saw them score eight in an 8-4 district victory over the Lady Rebels.
Senior forward Maggie Johnson scored a four-goal hat trick – her first of the regular season – and EHS remained unbeaten in district play at 4-0, (6-2 overall).
“It was exciting, this was a very important game for us,” Johnson said. “If we win we get a bye week and a home district game.
“Our communication was a little low tonight even though we won. In general, I think we had an off night. We ended up winning which was good, but we need to work on communication.”
Johnson scored in the third minute when she fired a hard shot at South goalkeeper McKenzie Wallen that she failed to hold on to and Johnson fired the rebound past her for a 1-nil lead.
Senior Lexi Brown gave the Cyclones a two-goal lead in the 15th minute and Johnson collected her second goal of the match in the 22nd minute for a 3-nil EHS advantage.
In the 31st minute, Bailey Creasy fired a corner kick into the South penalty area from where Emily Jones cashed in with a goal for a 4-nil Cyclones lead.
The Lady Rebels tallied a goal with 10 seconds left in the first half – also on a set piece – as Sydney Ferrando sent in a corner kick delivery that Maura Nicholson cashed in to make it a 4-1 contest at halftime.
South (3-5 overall, 0-4 district) scored three goals at the end of each half of play which had EHS head coach Bill McClay questioning his teams focus, saying, “We talked about starting the game strong, which we did, but we didn’t end the half strong.
“We gave away the corner kicks and cleared the first one, but the second one we didn’t step to the ball and the girl got to it first and clipped it in. It was a good play on her part but it never should have occurred.”
The Cyclones continued to fire bullets at the South net in the second half with Johnson scoring in the 43rd minute and junior Siana Robey scoring off a corner kick from Brown.
That goal occurred in the 45rd minute and senior Bailey Creasy knocked one past Wallen in the 59th minute of play for a 7-1 EHS lead.
The EHS defense got beat in the 65th minute on a breakaway goal from Nicholson that made it 7-2 but the Cyclones got that one back as Johnson scored on a breakaway goal of her own just one minute later.
The goals that most upset coach McClay was a penalty kick goal in the 76th minute from Mattie Topping from a handball in the penalty area and a goal at the buzzer from Tristen Mintz that made the final score 8-4.
“I don’t know, but I think as a group we looked a little disinterested,” McClay said. “We have played better, South never quit and I give them that.
“In the last three minutes of the game they are the ones passing the ball around and we are standing around watching. We know we can defend – we had Tennessee High 2-1 at 60 minutes – and we know we can possess better.
“But it’s hard to argue with eight goals scored and we won the game, which we needed to do. Allowing four goals doesn’t help because one of the tiebreakers is goals allowed but we did max our goal differential which is positive.”
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EHS 8-4
EHS 4 4 – 8
South 1 3 – 4
Scoring summary
FIRST HALF
E – Johnson (unassisted) 3:00
E – Brown (assist Addington) 15:00
E – Johnson (assist Jones) 22:00
E – Jones (assist Brown) 31:00
S – Nicholson (assist Ferrando) 40:00
SECOND HALF
E – Johnson (unassisted) 43:00
E – Robey (assist Brown) 45:00
E – Creasy (unassisted) 59:00
S – Nicholson (assist Creech) 65:00
E – Johnson (unassisted) 66:00
S – Topping (PK) 76:00
S – Mintz (assist Ferrando) 80:00
