EHS opens district tourney with shutout win
Published 11:48 pm Monday, October 11, 2021
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Lady Cyclones Bella Morris (15) fires a pass across the pitch early in the first half.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Elizabethton’s Emma O’Quinn (14) get the Lady Cyclones on the score board barely five minutes into the first half with the shot from 25 yards out.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Lady Cyclones Shayla Orellana (5) and Unicoi’s Agueda Sandoval (18) battle for control of the ball near mid-field in the first half.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Unicoi’s keeper Victoria Ponce (00) drops on a rebounded shot before the Lady Cyclones Kaiya Simmons (21) has a chance to hit a follow up shot.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Lady Cyclones Mollie Johnson (3) delivers Elizabethton’s second goal at the 19:40 mark of the first half.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Elizabethton’s Hallie Powell (20) drives a header toward the goal inside the penalty box late in the first half.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
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BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
Senior Night for the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones had a lot of fireworks. The Lady Cyclones opened the district 1-AA tournament with a 9-nil whitewashing of Unicoi County.
Sophomore Kaiya Simmons scored a four-goal hat trick and senior Maddie O’Quinn had a pair of goals as EHS advanced to round two.
“We put our best foot forward tonight,” O’Quinn said. “We want to be ready for tomorrow. I had four good years here and made relationships that will last a lifetime.”
Sophomore Emma O’Quinn jump-started the EHS offense with a goal in the sixth minute of play. Fellow sophomore Mollie Johnson found the back of the net in the 21st minute and just one minute later Simmons collected her seventh goal of the season for a 3-nil Cyclones lead.
The senior O’Quinn got her first goal of the match in the 29th minute followed by a second goal from Simmons in the 36th minute. The shots continued to fly fast and furious for the Cyclones with freshman Taylor Coad collecting her first career goal for a 7-nil EHS halftime lead and Simmons completing her three-goal hat trick in the 39th minute.
“Unfortunately we had to do senior night in the postseason,” Lady Cyclones head coach Bill McClay said. “We have had at least 12 schedule changes this season. Game time changes, venue changes, and cancellations. We pick up a game and it gets canceled or changed to a different date, it has been a nightmare in that regard.”
Credit the Lady Blue Devils for holding the score at 6-0 at the start of the second half due to some fine goalkeeping from Victoria Ponce who made several outstanding saves. However, the Cyclones pressure proved too much as O’Quinn made it 8-nil in the 63rd minute and Simmons closed out the scoring in the 65th minute.
Simmons final goal signaled the mercy rule and the senior night festivities began. For this group of seniors, they finished with a 39-27-1 record scoring 203 goals to 142 goals against. For O’Quinn she has scored 22 goals with 30 assists to lead her group.
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EHS 9-0
Unicoi Co. 0 0 – 0
EHS 7 2 – 9
Scoring summary
First Half
E – E. O’Quinn (unassisted) 6:00
E – Johnson (assist M.O’Quinn) 21:00
E – Simmons (assist Johnson) 22:00
E – M.O’Quinn (unassisted) 29:00
E – Simmons (unassisted) 32:00
E – Simmons (unassisted) 36:00
E – Coad (unassisted) 39:00
Second Half
E – M.O’Quinn (unassisted) 63:00
E – Simmons (unassisted) 65:00
