The Greeneville soccer team earned its first win of the season on Thursday night with a 6-0 shutout against West Ridge at Burley Stadium.
“Just happy for these guys and happy for our team. It’s nice to finally win one. Played some tough competition at the beginning of this year. We’ve learned a lot and replaced a lot of kids from last year. Especially three off the back line and a new keeper, so we’re still learning a lot. We’ve made some really big leaps in the past two weeks. Really proud of the way the team has responded,” Greeneville coach Jerry Graham said.
The Greene Devils had to wait patiently for a week and-a-half to secure their first win and it was a satisfying victory for everybody involved. The defense turned in a clean sheet and the offense dominated all game. The defense only allowed six shot attempts and only three of those were on goal. The Devils fired 31 shots at the nets and put 18 of them on goal.
Four of their six goals came off the bench and all four occurred in the second half. Junior Aidan Inscore netted a pair of goals less than 60 seconds apart from each other and delivered an assist to go with them. Coach Graham spoke highly about him and the key minutes he provided off the bench.
“They were huge. He was somebody we wish we would’ve got him in in the first half. Whenever he comes on the field he makes a difference,” Graham said. He continued, “His finishing ability, I mean holy cow, we really needed that kind of injection there at that time. Happy for the kid to come in and make that big of a difference in this game.”
It took Greeneville a half to get adjusted and weren’t comfortable with the lead they had, but their relentless attack on offense wore down West Ridge’s defense and opened the door for a dominant second half on the scoreboard.
The Greene Devils put eight shots up before finally getting on the board in the 24th minute courtesy of Emerson Hensley. A deep pass downfield by Carter Raby connected with Hensley and the only person standing in front of him was the keeper. The keeper abandoned the goal to apply pressure to Hensley, but the junior midfielder snuck it past him for the first scoring play.
“His work ethic out here on the field is fun to watch, it’s just phenomenal,” Coach Graham explained.
The next goal occurred with two minutes left in the first half. Simon Holt dribbled into the box and delivered a perfect pass to Samuel Gourley for a quick goal in the 38th minute.
Holt didn’t score any goals on Thursday night, but did contribute to two goals with a pair of assists. “Simon is probably one of our most technically sound kids out here. He can dribble around people and then the thing is he draws people and is able to read it and put people in good situations and he did that quite a bit tonight,” Graham stated.
Greeneville held a 2-0 lead at halftime.
In the 53rd minute a potentially momentum-changing play occurred in the penalty box. A penalty assessed to Greeneville set West Ridge up with a penalty kick. Kendall Burton delivered a well-placed shot, but Greeneville goalie Landen Creech guessed correctly and dove left to make the save.
Greeneville took full control of the scoreboard in the 58th and 59th minutes with back-to-back goals from junior forward Aidan Inscore. His limited number of minutes off the bench proved to be crucial. He managed to net both goals the same exact way from the top of the 18-yard box. The keeper charged forward to pressure Inscore, but just like Hensley earlier, he snuck the ball under him twice and put them ahead 4-0.
Kevin Moreno essentially iced the game in the 70th minute with a goal courtesy of Samuel Gourley’s corner-kick assist. Caden Jordan scored one more for good measure in the 76th minute. This time Inscore provided an assist.
The Greene Devils would go on to finish Thursday night’s contest with a 6-0 win over West Ridge. They improved to 1-3 with the victory. Greeneville takes a week off from games during spring break and gears back up with their first conference game on March 25th at home hosting Volunteer.
“Just glad to get a win. It’s nice to go into a long break on a positive note,” Graham ended with.
