GATLINBURG – The Chuckey-Doak soccer team saw its season come to an end on Monday night in the District 1-A Tournament with a 3-1 loss to Gatlinburg-Pittman.
“They just outplayed us. They wanted it more than us,” Chuckey-Doak coach Anna Ricker said. “They made it difficult on our offense by putting seven girls back on defense most of the night. We found shots, but we didn’t find a lot of good shots. They had a good game plan, and we didn’t really get any clean looks at goal.”
Gatlinburg-Pittman moves on to the tournament’s semifinals where it will take on University High on Tuesday.
The Lady Highlanders got the scoring started in the 12th minute. Chloe Mejias fielded a throw in and worked into the box from the left side. She beat her defender one-on-one and from 15 yards pinned a shot into the lower left corner, out of the reach of keeper Cora Merrill.
When the two teams met in the regular season G-P came out on top 1-0 in a defensive battle. Chuckey-Doak was expecting that again on Monday and when it fell behind early the Lady Knights were forced to adjust the lineup and game plan.
“It’s hard to go on the road and give up a goal early. I felt like that deflated us and we never got a rhythm going after that,” Ricker said. “If that goal doesn’t happen who knows how that changes the game.”
For the next 20 minutes Chuckey-Doak controlled the ball and pushed to its offensive end of the field, but could not get good looks in the box. Hailey Williamson put four shots on frame, but all of them were taken from beyond 25 yards. Keeper Naomi Ogle stopped each one.
In the 47th minute Williamson looked like she found the equalizer, but it caught crossbar and bounced away.
In the 48th minute Addy Bradley sent in a corner kick that Williamson got two chances at, but Ogle stopped both.
Gatlinburg-Pittman was able to stretch its lead to 2-0 in the 54th minute. Addison Stinnett ran by the defense on a solo run up the right side and then fired her shot from the right side of the 18-yard box.
In the 57th minute Chuckey-Doak was able to steal possession deep in G-P territory and Lindsey Rojas was able to find an opening from 15 yards on the right side. She curled her shot past the keeper a slipped it inside the left post.
Over the next seven minutes Williamson, Bradley and Rojas all had the chance to tie the game, but they could not beat the keeper.
The Lady Highlanders made the hole deeper in the 67th minute. Mejias took a deflection the other way and pushed toward the frame with the Lady Knights chasing. She made it into the box and beat the keeper one-on-one for a 3-1 lead.
In the 72nd minute Chuckey-Doak thought it found the back of the net again when Bradley let a corner kick fly and Williamson fired it into the net from the top of the box. Unfortunately for the Lady Knights an offside call waived off the score.
Monday’s loss brought an end to the Lady Black Knight careers of Williamson, Bradley and Merrill. All three have been big pieces of the squad for the past four seasons and left marks on the program that will be remembered.
“Those three that have played all four years have had amazing careers. They have set the pace for those coming up behind them. They should be very proud of their careers and accomplishments, it’s just unlucky they didn’t get to go any further,” Ricker said.
The Lady Black Knights end the year with a 4-10-3 record, and it was another close loss that broke against them on Monday. Of the Lady Knights 10 losses only one was by more than two goals.
