Lady Cyclones blank Morristown East on the pitch, 3-nil
Published 12:39 am Saturday, September 21, 2019
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Lady Cyclone Baylee Creasy appears to be balancing the ball on her foot during Thursday's match with Morristown East at Citizens Bank Stadium.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Elizabethton's Baylee Creasy is sandwiched between two Morristown East players as they battle for control of the ball.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Elizabethton's Kaylen Shell battles a Morristown East player as Maggie Johnson looks on.
BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
Is a Cyclone more powerful than a Hurricane?
On Thursday evening at Citizens Bank Stadium, the answer was yes as the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones blanked the Morristown East Lady Hurricanes by a 3-nil tally in non-conference soccer action.
Senior forward Kaylen Shell scored a pair of goals and junior Siana Robey added another as the Cyclones improved to 7-2 overall on the season.
EHS has won two in a row and four of their last five and freshman goalkeeper Morgan Heaton scored her fifth shutout of the season.
“A shutout is always good,” Lady Cyclones head coach Bill McClay said. “As I mentioned to the team, we had 20 shots on goal and I think on some days more of those go in.
“Their keeper was positioned well and we hit a lot of shots at her. When Lexie (Brown) can get service like that Kaylen is usually in a good spot to knock that ball in.”
Shell got the Cyclones on the board in the 38th minute of the first half on an unassisted goal when East failed to clear the ball from their penalty area and Shell pounced on the loose ball and fired a low shot to the left of Hurricanes goalkeeper Janie Russell for a 1-nil advantage.
The score remained static for some time as both teams played exceptional defense and did not allow the opponent to possess the ball for more than two passes and at the half the score remained 1-0.
The second half began with a pair of free kicks from Brown who had several shots but none that got past Russell on this night, but she saved her best effort for later in the match when she found herself on a breakaway and fed Shell with a fine crossing pass for the Cyclones second tally of the match in the 62nd minute.
Brown came into the East penalty area to the right of Russell and got her to commit to her charge and then slipped the ball across the goal crease from where Shell had an easy look and she did not miss the opportunity and made it a 2-nil contest.
“We had two good goals in the second half and when they are pretty they should count for more,” McClay joked. “We had much better discipline than the South game.
“Regardless of the goals scored, we recognized situations that were dangerous and cut them out before they occurred.
“Our communication was better with girls calling out switches and the strikers came deeper to help us keep the ball. The little things that we need to have moving forward against tough competition were there.”
EHS scored the final goal in the 72nd minute as Robey knocked in a feed from a Brown corner kick into the net to make up for a missed opportunity earlier when she fired a header over the crossbar on a similar corner kick from Brown.
“Our service was good on the corner kicks and Siana got to the ball first and was right where she needed to be,” McClay said. “She had a header on one corner kick and on another, she nudged it to the keeper on another, so we had some chances.”
Next for the Cyclones is a September 24 trip to Greeneville for the final district match before the playoffs.
—
EHS 3-0
East 0 0 – 0
EHS 1 2 – 3
Scoring summary
First Half
E – Shell (unassisted) 38:00
Second Half
E – Shell (assist Brown) 62:00
E – Robey (assist Brown) 72:00
