The Greeneville soccer team scored early and often on Tuesday night to take down Sullivan East 9-0 in the semifinals of the Region 1-AA Tournament.
“We felt like the boys played a really good game today,” Greeneville coach Jerry Graham said. “We’ve been looking for this level of play, and we felt like they elevated their level of play today. I liked our spacing and our pace of play, and it was really nice to get some guys back in the lineup tonight.”
With the win the Greene Devils extended their season into Saturday’s state sectional round, but first they will host Elizabethton on Thursday in the Region 1-AA championship game.
“We shift our attention to Elizabethton, and we’ve watched a little bit of film on them. We’ll try to have a good practice session tomorrow and come back here on Thursday,” Graham said. “We have a gauntlet coming up, and to rest some legs today was valuable. Elizabethton is a quality team with two or three spectacular players. We have to get the boys prepared, and hopefully have another good night on Thursday.”
Tuesday’s actions started with Greeneville taking a 1-0 lead just 19 seconds into the contest. The play started with Weston McGill lobbing a long pass over the defense from the midfield. Jude Dyer took possession along the right wing and sent a cross in to Cristian Banegas who punched the ball home for a quick 1-0 lead.
“Hats off to the boys. They came up with that play, and wanted to try to score in the first few seconds. It was a great job of getting the ball up there quickly and getting a goal,” Graham said.
Sullivan East helped the Greene Devil cause over the next four minutes with a pair of own goals. First Kingston Stewart kicked a cross from Remi Elyze-Vital the wrong direction in the third minute. In the fourth minute Maxx Horne misplayed a pass from Justin Banegas that put Greeneville in front 3-0.
In the 18th minute the Greene Devils’ advantage moved to 4-0. Samuel Gourley made a quick move on his marker at the top of the box to open up space and then fired in a straight away shot that whizzed by the keeper.
Two minutes later Dyer made a run up the right side, bouncing off defenders before letting a shot loose from eight yards that deflected off the keeper and inside the right post.
In the 30th minute Gourley sent a pass into box to Elyze-Vital. The senior took four touches to find an opening in front of the frame where he gave Greeneville a 6-0 lead.
Through the first half the ball stayed at the feet of the Greene Devils as they controlled possession and kept the Patriots from attempting a shot. The only balls keeper James Treptow touched were passes from his own teammates.
“It was nice to see the things we do in practice come out in a game,” Graham said. “We played feet and we played quick. We wanted to see an increased speed of play, and the guy did that really well. It was really quality soccer, and the movement off the ball was spectacular. Then we got some of those guys that work hard in practice every day some opportunities. They did those things we work on as well, and its fun to see everybody get in there and execute.”
In the second half the Devils kept adding to their lead. In the 46th minute Caden Jordan sent a cross from the left corner to the near post where Kevin Moreno tapped it home for a 7-0 advantage.
In the 51st minute Luke Mullhollen sent home a penalty kick. Then in the 60th minute the Patriots allowed the ball to bounce around the box, and Sonny Pryor got the last touch, punching home the Devils ninth goal of the night.
Greeneville outshot Sullivan East 24-0 on Tuesday with 17 shots on frame.
