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StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Lady Cyclones Maddie O’Quinn (9) fires a shot on goal early in the first half.

StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Elizabethton’s Lacey Simerly (8) redirects a goalie kick with a header near mid-field in the first half.

StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Lady Cyclones Mollie Johnson (3) “catches” the ball on her knee on an inbound pass early in the first half.

StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Jr. Lady Cyclones Hallie Powell (25) looks for a teammate to get open on an inbound pass in the second half.

StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Elizabethton’s Kaiya Simmons’ (21) toe-tap stops the ball from going out of bounds near mid-field in the first half.

StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Jr. Lady Cyclones Liahna Nave extended Dugger’s lead to four when she scored the first goal of the second half at the 25-minute mark.

StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Jr. Lady Cyclones Liahna Nave (11) delivers her second goal of the second half on this shot from just inside the penalty box 18 yards out.

StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders TA Dugger’s Isabella Lewis (7) uses her body to deflect an inbound pass in the second half.

BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
A tiny mistake can cost you plenty and on Tuesday evening that was all it took for Providence Academy to post a 1-nil win over Elizabethton at Citizens Bank Stadium in a non-conference girls soccer match.
With the first half scoreless and EHS (6-7 overall) outshooting the Lady Knights 4-2, a goal kick that didn’t travel far was played by the Knights to the foot of Anna Hodge.
Hodge was able to advance into the penalty area and fired a low shot past Lady Cyclone goalkeeper Morgan Heaton in the 35th minute to give the Knights it lone tally of the match.
“The goal kick needed to be further and they made us pay for that so that’s what the game was going to come down to because it was pretty tight to that point,” Lady Cyclones head coach Bill McClay said.
“We were better in the second half. We started putting passes together and had a little more intent. Unfortunately, there were still some moments when the past pass we needed to give us an angle we needed just didn’t happen.”
The Cyclones got decent opportunities with Lacey Simerly, Mollie Johnson, Emma O’Quinn and Maddie O’Quinn each testing the Providence keeper who was up to the task of stopping each shot.
In the second half, EHS best chance was a free kick from 30 yards out by Maddie O’Quinn that was defended successfully in the box by the Knights who then cleared the ball.
“We need to look to shoot a little sooner,” McClay said. “We tend to carry the ball a little longer than we need to and we had one opportunity off a set piece where Siena (Robey) was unmarked at the back post but we never saw her.”
The Cyclones will host Dobyns-Bennett on Thursday with game time set for 6 pm.
Middle School
T.A. Dugger 5
Providence 0
Liahna Nave scored a four-goal hat trick and Savannah Smith added one of her own as T.A. Dugger (3-3-1 overall) shut down Providence. Smith scored in the eight-minute after a corner kick from Isabella Lewis in front of the Providence net.
In the scrum, Smith managed to slip the ball past goalkeeper Munasche Nyaramia. Nave got her first goal on a breakaway in the ninth minute and she added a goal in the 20th minute as the Lady Junior Cyclone took a 3-nil lead into the halftime break.
“We got drawn into playing in the middle of the field last night against Chuckey-Doak and it did not work for us,” Lady Jr. Cyclones head coach Eddie Morrell said.
“We had a two-goal lead that we didn’t hold, so tonight I told the girls to do what we do best and that is possess the ball. We spread the field and possessed the ball and it paid off today. We were able to score on good runs and set plays.”
Nave collected her third goal in the 35th minute to open the second half and she finished off her scoring with a breakaway goal in the 41st minute.