Rain and lightning ended the game early, but not before a pair of Greeneville seniors got to celebrate goals on senior night in a 2-0 win over West Ridge.
“On senior night there can be a lot of emotions from those older girls, and even from the younger girls trying to support them,” Greeneville coach Jerry Graham said. “We had some people playing out of pocket, and some people did some good things in those roles, but I don’t think tonight was our best effort.”
The Lady Devils controlled the attack the whole night and only allowed West Ridge to attempt one shot in the contest, and keeper Kerry Birdwell wrangled it with little trouble. That defensive effort came with different players plugged into the lineup throughout the game as Graham gave his seniors more opportunities on senior night.
“The defense played spectacular, and really in the last three days all we have focused on if defense,” Graham said. “We’ve worked on pressure and cover, and denying those opportunities. West Ridge is a good team, and it does feel good to limit them like that.”
On the offensive end Greeneville sent a flurry of shots at West Ridge keeper Morgan Lambert, and that started not long after the opening whistle sounded, but the breakthrough goal did not come until the 23rd minute.
The decisive play started with Gabi Stayton sending a cross into the box from the left wing. The pass deflected off of Abigail Weems and Adkins played the bounce perfectly. She took two touches and then sent a shot to the far post from eight yards for the 1-0 lead.
“With people playing in different positions we did do a good job of creating opportunities, we weren’t finishing, but we were creating opportunities,” Graham said. “We just need to combine more to get better shots. Some of those shots were forced. I feel like Gabi and Abby did combine well, I just wish we could have found more teammates in the first half.”
The shots kept flying for Greeneville, but the game went to halftime with Greeneville holding a 1-0 advantage. In total Greeneville attempted 14 shots in the first half, while the overwhelming majority of the half was played on Greeneville’s end of the field.
Adkins and Stayton each had a handful of scoring opportunities while Matea Gray, Vivian Kammerdiener Angelyn Diaz and Mackenzie Castro did a good job of keeping the pressure on the Lady Wolves
The abbreviated second half was more of the same with Adkins and Stayton keeping Lambert busy. Emma Sauceman, Kammerdiener and Castro also got off shots as well, but Greeneville did not score again until the 53rd minute.
Kammerdiener started the play with a cross from the left side that went to the top of the 18-yard box. Stayton came charging in and pounded a straight-away shot into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.
In the 55th minute lighting in the area forced the game to be paused and then heavy rain saturated the field. After 30 minutes of waiting the coaches made the decision to not continue the game.
