Prep Roundup

BASEBALL:

Avery baseball defeated Mountain Heritage in varsity action 10-9 on Tuesday evening in Burnsville. Chris Childress and Brooks Oakley took the mound to help lead the Vikings to the one-run win. The team stands at 4-6 on the season and will host the North Wilkes Vikings on Friday afternoon at Avery High.

Avery's JV squad fell 12-0 to Mountain Heritage on Tuesday and will take on North Wilkes' JV squad following Friday's varsity game.

SOFTBALL:

Avery softball swept a doubleheader over Cloudland by scores of 11-1 and 14-11, respectively.

Lady Vikings Dominate Erwin 7-1

Despite playing without two starters in the match, Avery's talent and skill was simply too much for an overmatched Erwin squad, as the Lady Vikings took a 7-1 victory to run its consecutive games won/tied streak to 12 games.

Senior Katie Peters started the scoring frenzy with a goal in the 18th minute to take a 1-0 lead. Four minutes later Melinda Eggers found the back of the net with a helper from Peters to push Avery ahead by a pair of goals. Just three minutes elapsed before Avery scored again, this time Rachel Buchanan provided the assist on Peters' second goal of the half. Avery was not finished scoring for the half, however, as Peters earned a hat trick before intermission, scoring off a Brianna Strange assist in the match's 37th minute for a 4-0 Avery halftime lead.

The Big Red continued to rain shots on the weary Erwin net-minder in the second half. Rachel Buchanan crossed a pass to Emily Banner in the 51st minute, who peeled a shot into the net for a five-goal advantage. Strange got into the scoring act for Avery two minutes later off yet another Buchanan touch.

A seventh and final goal scored came off the foot of Emily Banner who dribbled downfield on a breakaway and blasted a shot for a 7-0 lead. Avery used much of the half to move players to various positions on the field in preparation for future contests. Erwin remained aggressive to the end, preventing an Avery shutout in the 73rd minute on a goal by Haley Allen for the final scoring margin.

"The game gave us an opportunity to play a couple of freshmen more minutes than they've had to play for us in a game this season. We wanted to see how our chemistry would be with the new girls playing, and for the most part I felt like they did a good job," Coach Tom Evaul said after the win. "This game gave us a chance to play a lot of girls in a lot of different positions, because down the road we'll need to know what we've got."

Although the Lady Vikings have been dominant at times, the coaching staff knows there is still work to do for the team to be able to reach its ultimate goals for this year. "At times we were a little over-aggressive in the second half. We weren't being very patient and we were stabbing at the ball at times."

Avery gets some much needed rest before Wednesday evening's showdown at MacDonald Stadium with conference foe Hendersonville, one of only two teams to defeat the Lady Vikings this season as they upended the Big Red 3-0 in a match back on March 17th. The coaches see a couple of keys for the Lady Vikings to be successful in returning the favor and handing the Lady Bearcats a defeat.

"Their keeper plays as far up as near midfield, and we will need to be able have our back girls take shots. The number one thing we will have to do is finish. We had opportunities tonight to finish and couldn't take advantage of them," Coach Evaul explained. "We will also have to do a better job of protecting our weak side. That's how Erwin scored their goal, and Hendersonville really likes to use the cross to take advantage of a team's weak side, so we will have to really watch that. If we do those things, I think we'll be okay."

Both teams will enter Wednesday's contest ranked in the state's top ten 1A rankings and should be an exciting match. Opening kick is slated at 6 p.m. at MacDonald Stadium.

Lady Vikings Shutout Owen for Win #11

Avery's Lady Vikings soccer team continued its hot play with a 4-0 blanking of the Owen Warlassies Wednesday afternoon at MacDonald Stadium.

The Vikings opened the scoring as, off of a corner kick, Emily Banner assisted on a goal by Elyse Perry in the 22nd minute to lead 1-nil.

Later in the first half the Lady Vikings received a scare as freshman Mary Chesnut Smith took a kicked ball directly to her eye area. Smith was helped off the field suffering from blurred vision and sat out the remainder of the first half.

Fortunately she was able to return to the pitch, playing on the front line in the second half.
Late in the first half Avery scored a second goal as Rachel Buchanan scored in the 36th minute to increase the lead to 2-0, a lead that remained unchanged through the rest of the half.
Smith made her presence felt almost immediately as the second half began. Two minutes into the half the freshman dribbled over 30 yards by the Owen defense and fired a shot past the Owen keeper for a 3-0 Avery lead.

The scoring was closed out by the Vikings on a goal in the 48th minute by Katelynn Eudy off the foot of a Mary Chesnut Smith corner kick. The effort was the final goal as Avery went on to cruise to the conference win.

"The second half was the opposite side of the coin from the first half. In the first half we were doing everything up the middle, right where Owen's best players are, and everything was bungling down" Coach Tom Evaul said after the win. "There was no intensity in the first half, and we were just standing around and not getting to the ball. I think in the second half the girls responded well and were more aggressive. We were still sending the ball in the middle more than we wanted them to. Some of our younger girls who haven't played a lot, like Megan Robbins, came through and showed some promise, showing us some things they haven't shown us before. As a team we still need to stay sharp and not get complacent or comfortable because we have two big games still coming up."

Avery's victory improves their record to 11-2-2 on the year, with a match on Thursday afternoon at home against Erwin.

Lady Vikings Soccer Notches Tenth Win with 4-1 triumph over Madison

The Avery women's soccer team improved its record to 10-2-2 on Monday afternoon at MacDonald Stadium by defeating the visiting Lady Patriots of Madison County.

Freshman Mary Chesnut Smith (pictured) tallied two of the Avery scores on the night. Katie Peters began the scoring with a goal in the game's seventh minute off a Melinda Eggers assist. Madison answered the goal quickly, within 30 seconds in fact, to tie the match at 1-1.

In the 21st minute Avery took advantage of a direct kick after the Madison goalie collided outside the box with Avery's Katie Peters. Smith made the Patriots pay for the mistake, curling a shot into the left half of the goal as Avery retook the lead at 2-1, a lead that they held at intermission.

Avery further padded its lead in the second half with a pair of goals. Smith struck again for her second goal in the game's 50th minute to take a 3-1 advantage, while in the 59th minute Melinda Eggers closed the scoring as she rushed toward the goal on a direct kick, caught her foot on a rebound and guided a shot into the back of the net for the 4-1 victory.

"The goal that Madison scored was a mistake, but I'd rather us make it against Madison than against Polk. Mistakes happen, but we were confident we could come back from the mistake and be alright," Avery soccer coach Lou Brancourt said after the win. "Tonight we tried to manage the match, our fitness, and the mental side to prepare ouselves for the bigger games coming up in the season. As coaches we don't try to ask for too much, and at halftime we didn't yell or scream at the girls and they responded well from the talk."

Avery does much more than just score goals, as the team's defense has held opponents to only a 1.07 GAA (Goals Against Average) for the season. "The girls work hard on the defensive side. The work of Katelynn Eudy in the middle is like having both a defensive midfielder and a stopper in one," Coach Brancourt said. "She and Chesnut are able to cover a lot of space and control the field. It allows us to make a faux pas from time to time and still recover."

Avery takes on Owen at MacDonald Stadium on Wednesday at 5 p.m. and host Erwin High School on Thursday at 5 p.m.