Greeneville and Volunteer hooked up Thursday evening at Fox Field, battling for the District 2-2A tournament championship and the right to host the first round of next week’s Region 1-2A tournament.
The Lady Devils unleashed 36 shots, with 23 on goal, while limiting the Lady Falcons to just two attempts. Those numbers might suggest a runaway victory, but that was far from the truth, as Volunteer keeper Khloe Sanders turned away 20 shots to keep her team within striking distance.
In the end, Greeneville secured a 3-1 victory, capturing its 22nd consecutive district championship.
Lady Devils coach Jerry Graham described his team’s performance following the game.
“I am proud of the girls’ effort. They worked really hard, and our combination effort was really strong, especially in the final third. Volunteer did a good job of compacting space in the final third, and we knew they were going to do that. Just wished we could have found the back of the net more. Just really proud of them overall.”
The effort was evident early as the Lady Devils moved the ball around against a Volunteer defense that packed defenders into the final third. Greeneville appeared poised to strike first when Elsie Rogers drilled a shot into the back of the net in the 11th minute. However, the goal was waved off after the Lady Devils were whistled for offsides.
The score remained deadlocked until the 37th minute, when Angelyn Diaz took a pass from Andrehina Moreno and fired a banger past the outstretched Sanders to give Greeneville a 1-0 lead.
“That was tremendous,” said Graham. “We had been trying to do a lot of things in the box. We had a lot of combinations that were producing a lot of shots, and it just wasn’t producing us anything. We started asking the girls to shoot a little further out, and we knew with the quality keeper that Volunteer had, we had to make those shots quality, and Angie did.”
The Lady Devils carried their one-goal advantage into halftime before extending it just three minutes into the second half. Diaz set up Kinsley Spradlen, who finished with a one-on-one move to push Greeneville’s lead to 2-0.
Despite being outshot by a wide margin, the Lady Falcons refused to go quietly. Volunteer cut the deficit in half in the 51st minute when freshman Ansley Glass collected a loose ball and fired it past Greeneville keeper Cailee Broyles to make it a 2-1 contest.
Greeneville continued to create scoring opportunities, but several attempts either deflected off the post, were stopped by Sanders, or were negated by offsides calls. The Lady Devils finally found some breathing room in the 77th minute when Diaz gained control of another loose ball and unleashed a 15-yard strike for her second goal of the night, sealing the 3-1 victory.
Diaz, a senior, reflected on what it meant to score twice in the championship game and earn the title for the fourth time in her career.
“It feels amazing. We are running a really good streak, and just coming out and winning this thing means a lot to us. A lot of people don’t keep streaks going, and a lot of people doubted us, so it felt really good coming out and showing them we could do it.”
Both Greeneville and Volunteer will now turn their attention to the Region 1-2A tournament, which begins Tuesday. The Lady Devils will host Sullivan East at Fox Field, while the Lady Falcons travel to Elizabethton. Both matches are scheduled for 6 p.m., with the winners advancing to Thursday’s regional championship.
