ELIZABETHTON – The Greeneville soccer team controlled much of Thursday’s Region 1-AA championship game but could not find the finishing touches in the box and fell to Elizabethton 2-1.
“We didn’t feel like we had our best first half and I felt like it took a couple of goals against us to wake us up,” Greeneville coach Jerry Graham said. “With a team that packs it in defensively that can be a deadly scenario. We did a better job in the second half of finding opportunities, but we couldn’t find the back of the net. We hit the post three times, the keeper made some good saves, but if we play like that in the first half maybe we aren’t where we are at now.”
It is Greeneville’s first loss in the region tournament since 2018, and sends them on the road on Saturday for the Class AA State Sectionals. The Lady Devils will be at Anderson County who beat Gibbs 2-1 in the Region 2-AA championship game. They will be looking to advance to the state tournament for the 11th consecutive season.
“We know we are going to see a quality team on Saturday. We have to go into the game ready to play for 80 straight minutes. We have to be aggressive and we have to combine to create space in that final third,” Graham said.
The night started about as well as Greeneville could have hoped and in the second minute the Lady Greene Devils took the lead. Vivian Kammerdiener sent a perfect pass into the box to Matea Gray who took a shot from 10 yards and banged it off the post into the netting for a quick 1-0 lead.
The lead was short lived and in the ninth minute Elizabethton found the equalizer. Vella Nave made a solo run through Lady Devils’ defense from 40 yards before beating keeper Cailee Broyles one one one.
The chances kept coming for Greeneville, but the Lady Devils had trouble winning against the Lady Cyclones’ five-person back line. In the 21st minute Greeneville punched a couple of shots at the frame, but Elizabethton knocked them out of the crowded box.
Int he 30th minute Kinsley Spradlen dribbled right at the keeper, but her close-proximity shot was saved at the goal line by Elizabethton’s defense.
The Lady Greene Devils controlled much of the second half and held an 8-2 advantage in shots on goal, but Elizabethton got the one shot it needed to take the lead.
Kammerdiener started the second half by sending in a great look at the frame from the edge of the 18-yard box, but Elizabethton keeper Abby Krawcyzk was able to get her fingers on it and tip the ball over the cross bar.
In the 50th minute as Greeneville was trying clear a corner kick out of the box when a hand ball was called and the Lady Cyclones were awarded a penalty kick. Izzy Lewis made the most of the free opportunity and buried her shot into the lower left corner for a 2-1 lead.
Greeneville kept pushing deep into Lady Cyclones territory and found several looks at the tying goal, but none got past Krawcyzk who had 13 saves on Thursday.
In the 69th minute Gray had an open look from six yards but sent it right at the keeper. Over the next four minutes Greeneville got three more one-on-one chances but one went off the post, one missed the frame and the other was stopped by the keeper.
“I felt like we were able to create a lot of opportunities. We had that little dink pass that was open all night, but with so many numbers in the box it was hard to go inside. That made it really frustrating,” Graham said.
Greeneville saw their streak of 6-straight region championships come to an end after a 2-1 loss at Elizabethton on Thursday night. Hear from Coach Jerry Graham after the loss and hear what’s next for the Lady Devils. pic.twitter.com/Z3c5aPlR12
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) October 24, 2025
