Lady Greene Devils prove to be too much for ‘Betsy, 7-0

Published 12:01 am Thursday, September 26, 2019

By Ivan Sanders

BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
GREENEVILLE – The scoreboard may have shown one story to Tuesday’s conference soccer game between Elizabethton and Greeneville at Teddy Bellamy Soccer Complex, but as it has been said there are two sides to every story.
 
The other side of this game’s story was that even though the Lady Cyclones might have been a little deflated over the loss, there was still a lot of upside to their performance against a team many have already penciled in to reach the state championships before that has even been settled.
 
Elizabethton dropped a 7-0 decision to a very talented and very deep Greeneville Lady Greene Devil team who already beaten teams like Dobyns-Bennett, Baylor, and Knox Catholic while dropping a one-goal decision to Knox Bearden who many consider the state’s top team in their division and are ranked fifth nationally with a 12-1 record.
 
For the game’s first 40 minutes, after taking an onslaught of early shots on goal that went just above or wide of the goal, the Lady Cyclones settled down and played great soccer allowing a goal to Emily Graham at 13:05 and held the Lady Greene Devils scoreless for the next 21 minutes of play before Olivia Brooks knocked home a goal at the 34:44 minute of the half.
 
The Lady Cyclones were still in the contest at the half trailing only 2-0 after 40 minutes of action.
 
The one advantage that Greeneville easily had over their visitors was a deep bench which was used quite heavily while the Lady Cyclones are still down a couple of players that could have helped make some difference.
 
That still wasn’t used as an excuse as the Lady Cyclones played with a lot of heart until the Lady Greene Devils put in a flurry of goals in a 16-minute time span in the early going of the second half that changed the body language of the ladies from ‘Betsy who was also leg-weary from a very physical, challenging contest.
 
Greeneville closed out the second half with goals from Taylor Jones (47:48), two goals from Macy Vermillion at 51:05 and 55:07, Tanna Bookhammer (62:24) and Brooks second goal of the contest at the 63:37 minute.
 
Even in defeat, Lady Cyclone head coach Bill McClay felt that there were many positives that could be taken from the game.
 
“We have watched them and we are down a couple of people who would be in the mix to be playing,” said McClay. “We had to move some people to some different places they weren’t used to not that would have ultimately mattered.
 
“The first half we did exactly what we wanted to do and that was limit them from going down the middle of the field and make them play out wide. 
 
“I thought we did really, really well. The second half they came out firing at us,” McClay continued.
 
“Once the fourth one went in, the body language kind of changed and we started making subs. They were able to get their players rest especially in the first half and that showed toward the end.”
 
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Elizabethton’s Dana Holsclaw appears to be practicing karate instead of playing soccer in

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