Avery Soccer Play Bearcats to Scoreless Tie; Handed First Season Loss by Polk

In a match pitting two of the best teams in both the Western Highlands Conference and the entire state, the Avery Lady Vikings and the Hendersonville Lady Bearcats played to a scoreless tie in overtime at Dietz Field on Wednesday evening.

The Hendersonville squad, defending their home turf, started the game with more intensity of than the Lady Vikings after their two-hour bus ride The Bearcats dominated the first part of the game, but the Lady Vikings knuckled down and didn't let the Bearcats score.

Midway through the half, the Bearcats coach was given a warning after he argued with the referee after he awarded a throw-in to Avery. The play in general was physical, with the Lady Bearcats generally winning the 50-50 balls and going at the Avery players with little regard to their own bodies and definitely no regard to inflicting injury on their opponents.

One Hendersonville player was called for "cleats up", a legal slide tackle as far as approach, but dangerous. Another one was called for dangerous play for going for the ball while she was still on the ground. In general, hand balls were not called, even in the box.

Towards the end of the first half, the Avery coaches were thinking that going into half-time with no score would be a plus for Avery.

In the second half, Avery had the wind at their backs rather than in their face, a distinct advantage. The Lady Vikings picked up their game in the second half, although still not playing at the level the coaches knew they could.

In the first half, the Bearcats outshot the Vikings 24 to 12. Mercedes Bentley had 10 saves in the half. In the second half, with a more offense generated by the Lady Vikings, they outshot Hendersonville 11 to 7. Bentley had an additional 3 saves. Each team had two corner kicks in regulation.

The Hendersonville coaches substituted liberally throughout the game, but the Viking squad, down one starter, put only one sub into the game. The coaches were concerned that this would be a factor if the game went to overtime, which it did.

In the first overtime period, the Lady Vikings defended with the wind, but still were not able to get a ball in the goal. The Lady Bearcats did, however score in the first half of OT, but much to the Viking's relief, it was not counted due to an offsides call against the Bearcats.

"We outplayed them again, and they know that. It was a great match, and I'm positive we'll see them again in the playoffs," Hendersonville head coach Freddy Oviedo said to local media after the match.

As the second half of OT was winding down, Mary Chesnut Smith was making a desperate run towards the goal when three defenders took her down, even calling out to each other to "take her out". Avery was awarded a free kick, which Smith was preparing to take. The clock was ticking down to under 20 seconds, the coaches were calling for her to hurry and take the kick, but a Hendersonville player was standing right in front of her, hoping by delaying that the clock would run out. She was awarded a card for her effort, after the referee called for the clock to be stopped.

Smith took the kick with 4.4 seconds left on the clock. It was so close but it knicked the upright and was deflected away from the goal with a 0-0 tie game as the result.

Avery extends its unbeaten streak to 13 with a 12-0-1 record overall. Hendersonville moves to 10-4-1 for the season.

Over the weekend the Lady Vikings discovered they had dropped two spots in the most recent 1A soccer poll from first to third. On Monday, the Lady Vikings suffered another setback with its first loss of the season, falling 1-0 in overtime to the talented and defending state champion Polk County Lady Wolverines.

Monday’s contest was played in a windy, rainy, and cool evening at MacDonald Stadium, but the action was white hot as the teams battled for ball after ball. The defense of the Lady Wolverines continued to stymie the Big Red for much of the evening, but much as was the case in its last game, Avery relied on its defense to keep the game tied until the offense found a way to score.

The teams played to a scoreless first half, although both clubs did get at least a pair of corner kick opportunities apiece. Polk had difficulty getting good shot looks on Avery, but on the few occasions they did, Lady Viking keeper Mercedes Bentley was a wall making multiple saves in net.

Avery had few chances in the second half to score the potential game-winner. Mary Chesnut Smith almost put Avery on the scoreboard with a long kick off a kick from the out-of-position Polk keeper. The ball looped toward the right side of the goal, but was slightly off target. The second half ended the same way as the first, with the teams scoreless and headed to overtime.

In the first ten-minute extra session, the Lady Wolverines took advantage of a foul call 25 yards from the goal. Polk all-conference performer Anna Trakas took the direct kick and placed it in perfect position, over the Avery defensive wall and above the outstretched arms of keeper Bentley. The ball sailed into the back of the net for a goal and a 1-0 Lady Wolverine lead.

Avery attempted to ramp up the pressure over the next thirteen minutes and succeeded on one opportunity to get the ball into the Polk penalty area. The Big Red was not able to peel off a clean shot on goal, however.

Despite a great effort, Avery could not score a goal and the match ended with a disappointing defeat.

The Lady Vikings fall to 12-1-1 on the season, with an 8-1-1 mark in conference play. Polk improved its record to 11-6, tying the Wolverines with Avery atop the conference standings.