The Chuckey-Doak soccer team was in complete control on Thursday afternoon as it picked up its third win of the week, 3-0 over Unicoi County.
“I felt like we played well. Our passing combinations improved from our last game. But we could have scored more, and we have some things we need to keep working on,” Chuckey-Doak forward Caitlin Larsen said.
The Lady Black Knights improved to 8-2 on the season and wrapped up a busy week where they stepped up in classification and took down three Class AA team by a combined margin of 10-1.
The Lady Black Knights controlled possession the whole night and for the overwhelming majority of the contest the game was played on Chuckey-Doak’s half of the field.
Unicoi County was held to just on shot on Thursday because of the effort of Kennah Marshall, Khloe Henderson, Emera Merril, Serenity Roper and Jackindsey Church on the backend.
Up front Larsen controlled Chuckey-Doak’s attack and kept the pressure on the Lady Blue Devils all evening. She sent in several dangerous crosses early, but a scoring shot did not materialize until the 19th minute.
Freshman Brianne Brown found the breakthrough goal for Chuckey-Doak. She worked the defense from the right side to create an opening and then from 15 yards she smashed a shot inside the right post.
The score stayed at 1-0 until halftime.
Despite trailing most of the night Unicoi County decided on a defensive-minded gameplan on Thursday and kept eight or nine defenders in the box. That made it harder for Chuckey-Doak’s offense to find the back of the net, but it still managed to add to the lead in the second half.
“Unicoi really packed in the defense, but we have some really fast people and we made some good crosses. That developed as the game went on and you saw that with those goals in the second half,” Larsen said.
In the second half Chuckey-Doak kept the pressure on the Lady Blue Devils and that pressure paid off in the 52nd minute. Kati Surber brought the ball up the right side and sent a low cross through the box. The ball bounced past Bowen in front of the frame and found Lindsey Rojas charging in from the left side. Rojas put her foot to the ball quickly and punched it home for a 2-0 advantage.
In the 66th minute the Lady Black Knights struck again. This time Larsen maneuvered around the defense and approached the frame from the right wing. As the defense closed in Larsen sent a pass across the frame and Rojas met it at the far post for a 3-0 lead.
