The Greeneville Lady Devils got off to a fast start against Sevier County but had to withstand a late surge from the Bearettes to hold on for a 3-2 victory Tuesday evening at Fox Field.
Coach Jerry Graham was pleased with his team’s overall effort.
“We stepped to the ball early and, offensively, allowed our girls to mix things up top,” Graham said. “You look at Sevier County, and they are 6-1 and have played a lot of good competition. They are always really well coached, and we were able to come in with that energy in the first half and put the pressure on them. Not allowing them to turn and us getting numbers into the attack was what really helped.”
The Lady Devils took four shots on goal in the first half and connected on three of them.
The first goal came in the 10th minute when Vivian Kammerdiener found Elsie Rodgers on the left side of the net. Rodgers blasted the ball past the keeper to give Greeneville a 1-0 lead.
Just a minute later, the Lady Devils stretched their advantage to 2-0 as Kammerdiener finished from six yards out on an assist from Peyton Vaught.
Greeneville’s third and final goal of the half came in the 21st minute when the Sevier County keeper misplayed the ball, allowing Andrehina Moreno to find the back of the net and give the Lady Devils a 3-0 lead.
Sevier County, however, was not going to go away quietly. Addison Brewer capitalized in the 24th minute, scoring on the Bearettes’ only shot on goal of the first half to cut the deficit to 3-1.
“Our message at halftime was to come out and try to put the game away,” Graham said. “We didn’t do a great job of that. We came out in the second half and rested a little bit. We were a little more complacent and weren’t stepping to the ball nearly as much as we did in the first half.”
Greeneville finished with twice as many shots on goal as Sevier County, holding a 10-5 advantage, but could not add to its lead in the second half.
The Bearettes made things interesting in the 75th minute when Brylee Valentine drove a shot past the keeper from a difficult angle about 15 yards away to make it a 3-2 contest.
The Lady Devil defense, however, stood strong down the stretch and kept Sevier County off the scoreboard for the remainder of the match.
“Our back line has been really solid this whole year, and that is evident in how hard they have worked,” Graham said. “Kaylee has done an exceptional job in the net, but we just put her in some bad situations on those two goals.”
Greeneville, now 5-3-1 on the season, will turn its attention to a pair of regional opponents in Grainger and Cherokee. The Lady Devils will travel to Rutledge on Thursday to face the Lady Grizzlies before returning to Fox Field next Tuesday to take on the Lady Chiefs.
