Junior striker Kaylen Shell scored a first-half hat trick, and the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones cruised to a 6-nil nonconference victory over Volunteer on Tuesday evening at Citizens Bank Stadium on senior night.
Three Lady Cyclone seniors were honored at halftime – defenders Cassidy Kaldy and Abbey Townsend, as well as midfielder DeAnndra Bordies – who each said they were honored to be Lady Cyclones and joked that they had all “been glad to have survived head coach Bill McClay.”
“My bark is pretty loud, but I rarely bite,” McClay said in his “defense”. “But all of them have brought competitiveness, and I have a certain level of trust in each of them that they know what I need them to do out there. They have all been leaders and brought that leadership to the field and I am proud to have coached them for four years.”
Once the match started, the Cyclones came out on fire with Shell scoring in the 3rd minute with off a fine crossing pass from junior Lexi Brown – who assisted on the first two Shell tallies – and Shell fired a header past Lady Falcons goalkeeper Erin Smallwood.
The second Shell goal came in the 6th minute as she once again took a Brown crossing pass and was able to put a shot past Smallwood for a 2-nil EHS lead. The Lady Cyclones (10-4, 4-1 conference) saw Shell score again in the 29th minute off a mistake on the back line of the Volunteer defense when they failed to clear a ball in the penalty area, and Shell pounced on the loose ball.
“In the first 10 minutes, I thought we had a really great start,” McClay said. “We were all over it, with crosses into the box, a header goal and that looked great, and I thought maybe it was two goals too fast. Then we just kind of had too much watching. This is a tough week to play. With homecoming and tonight being senior night, there are a lot of in-school distractions.”
The Cyclones – while not playing pedal to the metal – still managed to score three second-half goals with one coming off a corner kick from Townsend that saw sophomore Siana Robey score and the Falcons misplayed another for an own goal that went to Robey on the Cyclone stat sheet.
These tallies led to a 5-nil Cyclones lead, and Brown capped things off with a goal in the 71st minute for the final of 6-nil. Junior goalkeeper Baylee Creasy faced just five shots on goal and was up to the task of stonewalling each and every one to preserve the shutout.
The three seniors have each had impressive prep careers with an aggregate goals against record of 235 goals for and 135 against. These girls were part of District runner-up in 2015 and 2016 with a 10-4 record this season while scoring 68 goals and giving up just 17.
“I definitely think that I keep everybody intense during the game,” Townsend said. “My competitiveness is always there and one of my favorite memories here – and there have been so many – but I think my favorite was my sophomore year when we beat Dobyns-Bennett for the first time in history.”
EHS 6-0
Volunteer 0 0 – 0
EHS 3 3 – 6
Scoring summary
First Half
E – Shell (assist Brown) 3:00
E – Shell (assist Brown) 6:00
E – Shell (unassisted) 29:00
Second Half
E – Robey 62:00
E – Robey (assist Townsend) 68:00
E – Brown (unassisted) 71:00