Playing tighter than a rubber band stretched to its limit, the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones fell into a four-goal hole against Greeneville on Thursday evening and fell by a 9-nil tally at their seemingly yearly chamber of horrors—Fox Field.

The Cyclones (12-5) will travel to Seymour to take on the District 3-AA champion on Tuesday with a chance at redemption against the Lady Devils with a win. EHS had trouble clearing the ball from the penalty area and trailed 2-nil in the first six minutes as Greeneville got goals from junior Mic Kriebel in the second minute of play and junior Sydney Finchum headed in a corner kick from junior Kenly Wilhoit for a quick two-goal lead.

“We wanted to attack up the middle of the field and get some quick goals.” Lady Devils head coach John Eiskamp said. “That was really our emphasis. We wanted to attack outside and bring the ball back to the middle. The last game with them was very tight, and I told them at practice yesterday that we needed a quick start and they had to really step it up in the first few minutes.”

Junior Emily Graham tallied two goals in the first half with the first coming in the 14th minute, and she tallied again in the 32nd minute as Greeneville built a 4-nil halftime lead.

“We started out with enough people back, with the idea of getting us through the first few minutes,” Lady Cyclone head coach Bill McClay said. “We didn’t seem able, and I don’t know if it was the surface, but we just couldn’t clear the ball out of the box. The first five minutes were critical to getting our feet underneath us, but we fell behind very quickly. Before we knew it we were down four goals, and that is a hard thing to come back from.”

EHS junior striker Kaylen Shell had a chance early in the second half but was turned away on a nice save from Devils goalkeeper Mikayla Weems and when Emily Shaw scored in the 49th minute the air seemed to go out of the Cyclones as they gave up easy goals over the next few minutes to leave the field with a very sour taste.

Senior Ally Johnson put in a penalty kick in the 51st minute followed a minute later by a goal from sophomore Macy Vermillion on a nice left-footed blast. In the 55th minute, Finchum scored again, and sophomore Olivia Brooks closed the show by heading in a rebound of a shot by Graham.

District 1-AA girls soccer championship

Greeneville 9-0

Elizabethton 0 0 – 0

Greeneville   4 5 – 9

Scoring summary

First Hald

G – Kriebel (assist Runion) 2:00

G – Finchum (assist Wilhoit) 6:00

G – Graham (unassisted) 14:00

G – Graham (assist Cook) 32:00

Second Half

G – Shaw (unassisted) 49:00

G – Johnson (PK) 51:00

G – Vermillion (unassisted) 52:00

G – Finchum (unassisted)

G – Brooks (assist Graham) 59:00