In its first real conference test of the young season, Elizabethton earned a ‘A’. The Cyclones blanked Sullivan South in boys soccer on Monday evening at Citizen’s Bank Stadium 3-0.

The final tally reflected the Cyclones record as well as EHS remained unbeaten at 3-0 in district 1-A/AA play. Junior defender Hayden Townsend got the Cyclones on the board in the ninth minute when he put a shot past Rebels goalkeeper Cade Westbrook off a corner kick from senior Michael Robinson.

“Michael put it right there for me,” Townsend said. “I block the side of the keeper usually, but we ran a different play and ran it perfectly. We kept our shape well, kept our man in front of us and it went well for us. We knew coming in that this was a big game, we were excited for it and were well prepared for it.”

The score remained at 1-nil through the remainder of the first half, though the Cyclones had a few chances that turned into misses. EHS had a 7-3 shots on goal advantage in the first half and did not give up a shot on goal in the entire second half.

“We settled in defensively in the second half,” Cyclones head coach Bill McClay said. “I would like to see improvement in our passing percentage, completion rate. Maybe choosing a better option. Sometimes we take too many touches and give up the ball. I thought especially in the first 20 minutes that we dominated with our passing. We had the ball and moved it around and had people moving forward.”

Senior Teve Mushayamunda had an opportunity on a shot he fired low that Westbrook handled and Townsend had a second opportunity on another corner kick but Westbrook once again was able to make the play.

“We had three other really good opportunities,” McClay said. “We had one hit the crossbar, Drew had one that we played to the side of the goal and we had two in front but we didn’t have anybody there. We have to fix that.”

The Cyclones turned up the pressure in the second half and it paid big dividends when Mushayamunda sent a pass over the top down the middle of the pitch and junior Dante Callahan sped past South defender Josh Johnson.

Westbrook came off his line but Callahan was able to beat him in the 52^ndminute to give EHS a two goal lead. In the 68^th minute sophomore Daniel Raposo Sanchez drilled home a shot off another corner kick from Robinson for the final margin of victory.

In the scrum in front of the goal Sanchez was able to slide into the deflected ball and Westbrook had no chance to make the save.

District 1-A/AA

Boys soccer

EHS 3-0

Sullivan South 0 0 – 0

Elizabethton 1 2 – 3

First Half

E – Townsend (assist Robinson) 9:07

Second Half

E – Callahan (assist Mushayamunda) 52:01

E – Sanchez (assist Robinson) 68:31

Shots on goal: EHS 10, South 3.