Lady Cyclones vexed by Lady Greene Devils on the pitch, 6-2
Published 8:56 pm Wednesday, September 23, 2020
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Lady Cyclone freshman Mollie Johnson tries to outrun a Greeneville challenger to the soccer ball.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
EHS goalie Morgan Heaton punts a ball toward the center of the field in action from the Lady Cyclone soccer match at Citizens Bank Stadium.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Lady Cyclone Reaghan Curde battle for possession of the ball in Elizabethton's match with Greeneville.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Lady Cyclone Shayla Orellana makes a hard charge for possession of the ball against a Lady Greene Devil defender.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Lady Cyclone Maddie O'Quinn kicks the ball toward the Greene Devil goal in Elizabethton's match against the visiting Greeneville Lady Greene Devils.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Lady Cyclone Meaghan Curde puts a foot into the soccer ball as a Lady Greene Devil player draws near.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Elizabethton freshman Bella Moore engages in a physical battle for control of the soccer ball against a Greeneville Lady Devil.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Kaiya Simmons gains possession of the ball near midfield for the Lady Cyclones. Simmons had one of the two goals scored in the contest against Greeneville.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Emma O'Quinn knocks the ball away from an oncoming Greeneville Lady Greene Devil player during the Lady Cyclones match on Thursday.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
The first 20 minutes of the soccer match between Elizabethton and Greeneville was about like watching When Sharks Attack on the Discovery Channel as the Lady Greene Devils were thrashing and splashing around the Cyclone goal.
It was all Lady Cyclone goalie Morgan Heaton could do to keep the ball from finding the back of the net as Greeneville built a 4-0 lead. The Lady Greene Devils added one more goal before the half as they dominated Elizabethton 5-0 in the first 40 minutes of play.
Macey Vermillion (:50), Delana Debusk (7:15), Lindsey Cooke (14:49), Olivia Brooks (16:10) and Debusk once again at the 28:02 mark accounted for all five goals in the first half for the visitors.
The quick onslaught seemed to take some air out of the Lady Cyclones bubble in the half.
However, Elizabethton head coach Bill McClay seemed to have the right words to say at the break that brought calm to his squad and it was a different contest in the second half.
After Brooks scored on a penalty kick directly in front of Heaton at 42:25, the Lady Cyclones controlled the flow of the game from that point as freshman Mollie Johnson made a great run on a ball heading toward the Greeneville goalie and footed the ball just past the goalie who was coming out to contest a shot and the ball found it’s way into the goal at 66:35 left to make it 6-1.
The goalie wasn’t too happy with the score as the Lady Greene Devils have been shutting out the opposition throughout the season.
If that wasn’t enough to frustrate her, the second Lady Cyclone goal coming at 76:37 from freshman Kaiya Simmons had to be devasting as the body language said it all as the Lady Cyclones had hung two goals on the visitors as the final came in at 6-2.
“They are very, very good,” said McClay after the match. “They were just flying at us and that was faster than Morristown West played.
“If you are going to go anywhere in this district, its through Greeneville. I thought our attitude stayed good even though in the first half we got a little bit down. We just lost our attitude.
“We ended up scoring two legitimate goals and those were two good counter-attacking balls,” McClay continued. “We feel pretty good about ourselves tonight. In the second half, we only gave away a penalty kick and that was early and in the last 37 minutes we held them to nothing.”
The next home game for the Lady Cyclones will be on Tuesday immediately following the T.A. Dugger contest. Elizabethton will host Providence Academy beginning at 7:30 pm.
