After a nearly two-week layoff from game play the Greeneville soccer team got back on the field on Tuesday evening and made quick work of Claiborne with a 10-1 win in the semifinals of the District 2-AA Tournament.
“We’re just glad to be playing soccer again,” Greeneville coach Jerry Graham said. “Coming off the field I think the girls felt a little rusty. We have gone up to Science Hill and had some pretty good practices, but you can’t replicate game play. Overall I think it was a pretty good night. We had good combination play and we possessed the ball well. But We had 27 shots in the first half and six goals. That percentage of makes needs to be higher. We are going to have to work on that.”
The Lady Devils quickly made up for lost time on Tuesday and let only 25 seconds tick off the clock before they found the back of the net. Marley VanBuskirk got things started by sending a cross in from the right wing. Angelyn Diaz took possession and slid a pass across the box to Vivian Kammerdeiner who pounded a shot inside the left post from 10 yards away.
The Lady Devils stayed on the attack early, bringing numbers into the box and sliding passes back and forth around the Lady Bulldogs. Over the next 12 minutes Greeneville let 11 shots fly, but they could not add to their lead until the 13th minute.
“We are working a different shape right now. That’s why I brought the starters back out in the second half,” Graham said. “I liked what we saw out of that shape, we’ll keep working on it in practice. But it definitely put more numbers in that offensive third, and I liked seeing that. The girls played unselfish and they found the feet of their teammates. That allowed us to get a lot of shots and eventually the goals started to come.”
Abby Adkins added to Greeneville’s lead in the when Kammerdeiner sent a pass in from the left side and she rocketed in a shot from the top of the 18-yard box.
Adkins finished the evening with a hat trick, and in total seven different players scored for the Lady Devils.
In the 14th minute Greeneville’s lead grew to 3-0 when Kammerdiener slipped a shot under the crossbar from 15 yards away.
Claiborne’s lone goal arrived in the 15th minute when Jaylen Pressnell sent a 25-yard free kick over Greeneville’s wall and inside the left post.
Greeneville scored its third goal in a four-minute span when Diaz broke free on the right side and raced toward the net. Her shot from 12 yards went straight to the upper right corner of the frame and while keeper Lily Rosson got her hand on the shot she could not slow it down.
In the 24th minute Gabi Stayton lobbed in a corner kick for Greeneville. Claiborne knocked it back where it met Emma Sauceman’s toe for just moment before she rapidly sent into it the back of the net.
In the 25th minute Adkins sent in a cross that Claiborne briefly deflected, but the carrom went right to Mackenzie Castro who took a touch and stretched Greeneville’s lead to 6-1.
Two minutes into the second half Adkins sent a low screamer through the box and into the back of the net from 18 yards. The in the 48th minute Stayton stretched the Lady Devil’s lead to 8-1 when her powerful boot from the top of the box was deflected into the right post.
Adkins wrapped up her hat trick in the 54th minute, and Lorelei Bridwell played in a rebound for the night’s finishing goal in the 59th minute.
Kammerdeiner finished with two goals and two assists for Greeneville.
The Lady Devils move on to play Grainger on Thursday in the District 2-AA Championship Game. Grainger defeated Volunteer 1-0 on Tuesday.
“Over the last week it’s felt like the whole state stopped, but really it’s just our little area,” Graham said. “So, we know we have to catch up to get to back to where everybody else is in terms of game form and conditioning. But that’s such a small problem compared to a lot of things going on. We’ll get in gear and we’ll be ready to keep on going.”
