The Avery Lady Vikings returned to the pitch on Thursday afternoon at MacDonald Stadium with a highly-anticipated matchup with perennial 1A soccer power Hendersonville. Avery held home-field advantage, but the Lady Bearcats seized momentum quickly in the match with a goal in the match's seventh minute to take a 1-0 lead.In the final minute of the opening half, Emily Banner sent a cross pass in the front of goal where teammate Elyse Perry chipped a shot by the keeper to knot the score at 1-1.
At the half, the team was given the opportunity to discuss amongst themselves what strategy would work best for the second half. The coaches followed up the player input with emphasis on good first touches and the need to be more aggressive to the ball.
The coaches noted that Hendersonville's players were beating the Vikings to the ball and Avery was more reactive than proactive. Fine tuning the goals for the second half a bit further, Lady Vikings head coach Tom Evaul pointed out that their best player was their sweeper and therefore the Lady Vikings needed to bring the ball up the outside. Defensively the team opted to keep the ball away from the center of the field and work the wide sides of the field.
Throughout the game, the Lady Bearcats had several shots on goal which were just off, hitting the crossbar and coming back into play. Fortunately, the Vikings were able to clear the rebounds.
The Lady Bearcats outshot the Lady Vikings, especially in the second half, but most of their 20 shots on goal were wide, with keeper Mercedes Bentley coming up with a key save. Bentley had a solid effort in goal to help keep the Lady Vikings in the match. Avery had 13 shots on goal with eight saved by the Bearcat keeper.
Late in the game as the sky got darker and more threatening, it appeared that the coaches were going to have to decide on whether to play overtime or not. However, with twenty seconds left in the game, Cassie Bumgarner sent a ball forward to Banner, who scored the go-ahead goal for the Lady Vikings. Avery's defense stood tall in for the remainder of the match to take the well-earned 2-1 win.
For the Big Red, it was the first win against Hendersonville, who joined the Western Highlands Conference in 2005. The Lady Vikings move to 5-0 on the season, with a perfect 3-0 record in conference play.
Avery travels to West Caldwell this afternoon for a non-conference match.
(Editor's Note: Special thanks to Serena Smith for contributing to this report)
