Advancing to the second round… Lady Cyclones win 8-0 over Unicoi County in opening round of District 1A/AA soccer
Published 10:43 pm Monday, October 12, 2020
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Elizabethton's Madison Holly takes a corner kick off her head in the Lady Cyclones 8-0 win over Unicoi Co. in the District 1-A/AA tournament that kicked off Monday.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Dana Holsclaw pushes the ball forward for the Lady Cyclones on Monday night.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Elizabethton's Emily Little strikes the ball toward the net for one of her two goals on the night.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Elizabethton senior Tessa Lamb slams on the brakes after overrunning the ball in the second half of action at Citizens Bank Stadium.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders The Lady Cyclones Mollie Johnson drives the ball toward the goal in Elizabethton's win over the Unicoi County Lady Blue Devils in the opening game of the district tournament.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Lady Cyclone Maddie O'Quinn kicks the perfect corner kick for Elizabethton.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Kaiya Simmons battles a Lady Blue Devil for control of the soccer ball during District 1-A/AA action on Monday.
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BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
The Elizabethton Lady Cyclones were hoping to make short work of the Unicoi County Lady Blue Devils in the opening round of the District 1A/AA soccer tournament that kicked off on Monday at Citizens Bank Stadium.
It was an easy win for the Lady Cyclones taking an 8-0 final but Coach Bill McClay’s squad had to work the full 80 minutes and now must turn their attention to a Central Lady Cougar team that the Lady Cyclones split with during the season but must do so with three players including two starters.
The Lady Cyclones got off to a fast start as freshman Mollie Johnson put a header into the net off a Madelyn Outland assist with 1:20 seconds off the game clock giving Elizabethton the 1-0 lead.
Senior Tessa Lamb struck a ball into the goal at the 13:03 mark of the contest to extend the lead to 2-0.
Junior Maddie O’Quinn who was wearing her sister Emma’s jersey due to Emma not being able to play made good on a strong kick with 18:52 remaining in the first half to give the Lady Cyclones a 3-0 advantage.
O’Quinn followed that score with another blast from 20 yards out at the 32:54 mark of the half as Elizabethton was cruising at 4-0.
Coming out of intermission, O’Quinn sent a pretty corner kick to front-center of the Lady Blue Devil goal and senior Siana Robey did the rest finding the net at the 46:08 mark of the contest.
McClay gave Johnson a breather just under 20 minutes to play and Johnson’s sub, Emily Little, made her presence known immediately as Little gave the Lady Cyclones a 6-0 lead at 63:43 and followed that up with another goal at 69:30 to make it 7-0.
O’Quinn finished her hat trick night with her third goal at 78:57 of the match to seal the 8-0 victory and advance the Lady Cyclones into the second round.
“We knocked the ball around pretty well and usually games like this are where some of our newer players get to experience what their position expects of them,” said McClay after the match.
“We scored on a head ball early and so a lot of things that we have been talking about in finding a player with the better option – we still have the tendency not to make the best decision and try to dribble through somebody when we have other options but tonight the game was a little bit slower and we were able to find those better options.”
“We will have our work cut out tomorrow that is for sure.”
