Simmons five goals propel Lady Cyclones past Morristown East (With Video)
Published 5:18 pm Wednesday, October 5, 2022
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STAR CORRESPONDENT
Junior forward Kaiya Simmons scored five goals and fellow forward Mollie Johnson had three assists as the Lady Cyclones (6-8-1 overall) earned an 8-2 non-conference victory over Morristown East on Monday evening at Citizens Bank Stadium.
“Mollie always finds me when I’m open,” Simmons said. “We have a real young team with a bunch of freshmen coming up this year so we have worked really hard in practice on communication and it really showed. A lot of our underclassmen are really stepping up and playing their part on the team.”
The Lady Cyclones have exploded offensively over the last two games, scoring eight goals in each of those matches. Simmons has scored nine of the 16 goals over the past two games and she is looking forward to the challenge of the district tournament.
“It’s fortunate that we are coming together at this time of the season,” Simmons said.
Simmons got the scoring barrage started in the 13th minute when she blasted a breakaway goal high and hard past Lady Hurricanes goalkeeper Alyssa Potter. Simmons struck again in the 21st minute with an assist going to Johnson that gave EHS a 2-nil advantage at the halftime break.
One thing head coach Lauren Meier said was challenged to the team at halftime was offside penalties. “They had a hard time adjusting to that high offside press and that was the main topic of our halftime conversation. You know for them holding their line as well as for our midfielders to play the ball quicker, it was a team effort into the second half and they did so much better.”
Junior Shayla Orellana scored in the 52nd minute and the Cyclones tallied two more goals over the next five minutes of play for a 5-1 lead, including a penalty kick goal from Orellana. In the 53rd minute, the Hurricanes struck for a goal when Kirsten Sadlin put in a rebound of her own corner kick for a 3-1 score.
A goal by Simmons in the 61st minute gave her four goals in the game and was again assisted by Johnson as EHS now took a 7-1 lead. Freshman Camdyn Garland scored in the 63rd minute and East retaliated with a goal from Lexi Wolf to make it a 6-2 match.
Simmons scored her fifth goal in the 76th minute to put the capper on a big win.
EHS 8-2
Morristown East 0 2 – 2
EHS 2 6 – 8
Scoring Summary
First half
E – Simmons (unassisted) 13:00
E – Simmons (assist Johnson) 21:00
Second Half
E – Orellana (unassisted) 52:00
ME – Sadlin (unassisted) 53:00
E – Simmons (assist Johnson) 55:00
E – Orellana (penalty kick) 57:00
E – Simmons (assist Johnson) 61:00
E – Garland (assist Lewis) 63:00
ME – Wolf (unassisted) 65:00
E – Simmons (unassisted) 76:00
Star Photo/Tyler Scalf
Shayla Orellana (5) of Elizabethton tries to steal the ball.
Star Photo/Tyler Scalf
Kayla Simmons (21) passes the ball to Shayla Orellana (5) to advance the ball down the field for Elizabethton.
Star Photo/Tyler Scalf
Cyclone Hallie Powell (20) dribbles the ball down by two defenders.
Star Photo/Tyler Scalf
Elizabethton goalie Savannah Smith (10) kicks the ball to the other side of the field to give Cyclones field advantage.
