Lady Cyclones upset Tennessee High
Published 11:20 am Wednesday, October 13, 2021
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Lady Cyclones Kaiya Simmons (21) drives a header downfield early in the first half.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Lady Cyclones Mollie Johnson (3) and Kaiya Simmons (21) battles Tennessee High’s Hannah Plumbar (14) for control of a loose ball at mid-field in the first half.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders Elizabethton keeper Morgan Heaton (12) stops a shot on goal by the Lady Vikings Abby Littleton (26) late in the first half.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Lady Vikings Abby Littleton (26) works the ball between Elizabethton’s Maddie O’Quinn (9) and Lacy Simerly (8) just outside the penalty box late in the first half.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders The Lady Cyclones Dana Holsclaw (16) collides with Tennessee High’s Lana Lavinder (8) at mid-field as both go for a loose ball in the first half.
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BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
BRISTOL – A pair of sophomores fired the shots that took down Goliath on Tuesday evening at the Stone Castle. Mollie Johnson and Kaiya Simmons scored late goals and the Lady Cyclones backline performed at its highest level as EHS (10-7-1) took down the Lady Vikings 2-1 to advance to play Greeneville on Thursday in the District 1-AA final.
Johnson scored in the 65th minute after taking a pass from Emma O’Quinn and put up a floater of a shot that Lady Vikings goalkeeper Bridget Flaherty couldn’t quite reach for the equalizer that made it a 1-1 match.
“I knew that she has good ball skills, we have played a bunch of times and I just knew I had to do something,” Johnson said. “At first I looked for Kaiya, but she wasn’t there so I just did what I could. This is a huge win for us. Our seniors said that this is the first time we have beaten Tennessee High, so we’re happy to make it happen for them.”
The Vikings got on the board early when sophomore Riley Miller – who had a hat trick in the regular season Vikings win – got one past EHS goalkeeper Morgan Heaton on a breakaway. Miller’s goal came in the fourth minute of play and before the half ended she broke free again and scored, but it was called back for an offside.
Miller’s goal held up through the first half and the Vikings were quickly on the attack to open the second half. THS fired seven shots on goal in the second half but the Cyclones dropped a midfielder to the backline which seemed to frustrate the Vikings as they were never able to get a hard shot on goal.
“They didn’t get any rocket shots,” Lady Cyclones head coach Bill McClay said. “Morgan was picking the ball up off the turf and she did a real good job. We had a decent number of shots in the first half and they kind of had more shots in the second half.
“What happened was we didn’t make the errors. We cut out the big mistake and concentrated on who we had to look for. Number 13 (Miller) got that goal early but somebody asked me early what we had to do to win. I said we have to avoid the three huge mistakes and we gotta make two shots to get to overtime, but we actually got them in regulation.”
In the 74th minute, Emma O’Quinn took possession inside the midfield stripe and turned upfield. From there she spotted Simmons making a run in the middle of the field and she put a pass right on her feet and Simmons was able to split two defenders and blasted a finishing shot past Flaherty.
“I was just trying to get it into the corner anywhere not near the goaltender and it was a good through ball by Emma,” Simmons said. “We definitely needed this win for our seniors and I am really excited to move on. I think defensively we messed up their game plan.”
The Cyclones will travel to Greeneville on Thursday for the District 1-AA final with game time set for 6 pm.
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District 1AA semifinal
EHS 2-1
Elizabethton 0 2 – 2
Tennessee High 1 0 – 1
Scoring Summary
First Half
T – Miller (unassisted) 4:00
Second Half
E – Johnson (assist E. O’Quinn) 65:00
E – Simmons (assist E. O’Quinn) 74:00
