The Avery Lady Vikings have played a pair of matches this week with mixed results.On a wet and rainy Monday evening Avery blasted the Owen Warlassies 9-1 in Swannanoa. All nine goals occurred in the first 62 minutes of a highly physical match.
Emily Banner scored an unassisted goal in the 6th minute to break the ice. Seven minutes later the Warlassies knotted the score at 1-1. In the 25th minute Rachel Buchanan found Emily Banner with a pass, who scored her second goal of the night to put Avery on top 2-1. Three minutes later Mary Chesnut Smith was fouled. She then laced a free kick past the Owen keeper to stake the Big Red to a 3-1 lead. Banner recorded a hat trick on an unassisted goal to take a 4-1 lead which Avery maintained for the remainder of the first half.
The Big Red picked up where it left off in the second half with five additional goals. The first tally came two minutes into the half off a corner kick from Mary Chesnut Smith. Katelynn Eudy headed the ball to the ground, which Melinda Eggers then passed to Emily Banner who netted her fourth tally of the match to push the Lady Viking margin to 5-1.
Seven minutes later Eudy sent a through pass to Smith who scored a second goal for a 6-1 Avery lead. Smith then lent a helping hand on an assist to Rachel Buchanan, who got on the scoreboard in the 55th minute to give the Lady Vikings a half-dozen goal lead. A couple of minutes later, Katelynn Eudy assisted on a fifth goal from Banner to continue the scoring onslaught. The final goal came in the 62nd minute when Kaley Faulkner drew a foul. Smith took a free kick and registered her own hat trick as her kick slipped through the Owen keeper's fingers and into the net, closing out the scoring in the victory.
Avery met a tougher foe on a warm Wednesday afternoon in Cleveland County to square off with traditional 2A girls soccer power Burns. The Lady Vikings played without the services of a number of players, as Katelyn Beverly, as well as Hayley Pyatte and Mary Chesnut Smith were unavailable for the match.
Burns netted a pair of goals in the first half off the revamped Avery lineup before the Lady Vikings calmed their collective nerves and settled into a comfortable playing groove.
In the second half, a Burns’ player was ejected after a flagrant and aggressive foul. Due to the reasoning for the red card, Avery should have had the luxury of playing the final 25 minutes of the match with an 11 to 10 player advantage. However, the officials allowed the Lady Dogs to continue playing at full strength until the decision was questioned by the Avery coaching staff.
Burns added a third goal in the second half to lead 3-0. The Lady Vikings refused to give up, however, as Emily Banner took an outside shot that surprised the Burns defense and found the back of the net in the 77th minute. Unfortunately, Avery drew no closer as Burns took the 3-1 victory.
The Lady Vikings enter a crucial portion of the regular season schedule next week with a pair of 1A conference duels, at Hendersonville on Monday and at Polk County on Wednesday.
