The juggernaut that is the Avery Lady Vikings soccer team continues to overpower its opponents, shutting out Owen at MacDonald Stadium 5-0 last Wednesday night and On a clear Wednesday evening in Newland, the Owen Warlassies came to town hoping to knock off the unbeaten Big Red. Avery played without the services of junior starter Jennie Elrod, who missed both games last week due to shin splints.
Avery got on the scoreboard in the 8th minute, when junior Emily Banner was fouled and Avery was awarded a free kick. Coach Evaul instructed junior Mary Chesnut Smith to aim for the drink logo on the scoreboard at the far side of the goal and at the height of the upper corner of the goal. Smith obliged, and the ball caught the lower edge of the goal crossbar and dropped into the goal.
Three minutes later, Smith and Banner reversed roles. Smith was fouled and took the free kick and Banner got a foot on the ball to direct it to the back of the net for Avery’s second goal of the evening.
Owen’s coach was not pleased with the officiating and was vocal over the point that Avery had not been whistled for a foul and his team, perennially known as one of the more physical teams in the conference, had been called for four. In the 12th minute Owen’s Coach Tate was rewarded for his disagreements with a yellow card in the 12th minute of the game.
In the 21st minute of the half, Smith again connected with Banner, who dribbled the ball, changed course and caught the keeper off guard with her shot. The remainder of the first half was scoreless, making the score 3-0 at halftime.
The teams regrouped at intermission and the Big Red discussed fine tuning its game. As the second half began, the discussion proved fruitful. In the first minute of the half after a throw-in which put the ball in front of Owen’s goal, junior Melinda Eggers got the ball to senior Elyse Perry who had room to shoot, resulting in a score.
Ten minutes into the half, Avery was called for a handball in the Owen box. Junior keeper Mercedes Bentley faced her first penalty kick in game action this season. After a stoppage of play to clear spectators and kids from behind the goal area, Owen’s player shot the penalty kick wide, preserving the Lady Viking shutout.
Eleven minutes later, in the 61st minute, junior Katelynn Eudy found Smith with one of her trademark long throw ins. Smith was able to dribble the ball to a spot to get a good angle on her shot away from the Owen keeper to close the scoring for the match.
Owen earned two yellow cards in the game and was called for eight fouls overall. Avery didn’t get any cards, but had four offside calls in the first half and two more in the second.
Avery had 12 other fouls called against them, including three handballs. Bentley had five saves with Owen taking 12 shots on goal. Avery took 39 shots on goal; five shots scored, seven were saved, and 27 missed the mark.
On Friday evening the Lady Vikings welcomed an old foe in the Ashe Lady Huskies to MacDonald Stadium. The teams have played many memorable soccer battles through the years and both play passionate soccer.
As Friday’s game began, the Lady Vikings were not their usual dominant selves, playing lackluster ball for most of the first half against the Lady Huskies of Ashe. Sideline comments included “Are they playing down, because it is hard to rise above the level of play of the opponents?” “Where they told to take it easy?” and “Is this an off–night?” The touches were off, the intensity was not there, and the shots were wide or straight to the keeper.
Over the final ten minutes of the first half, the intensity started to pick up. Avery improved on its passing and appeared to quickly regain the eye of the tiger.
After a drought of 31 minutes, the Lady Vikings scored three times to take control.In the 31st minute a run and shot at goal by forward Melinda Eggers ensued. Mary Chesnut Smith, who had moved from mid-field to forward, was in place to get Eggers’ shot as it rebound off the keeper and put it in the net for a 1-0 edge.
Less than two minutes later, Smith sent a pass out wide which half-back Elyse Perry took and shot for the second goal of the half. In the 36th minute, Smith took a corner kick and Arden Stanley was in a perfect position to tap it in for a 3-0 Avery advantage.
The Lady Vikings continued to take it to the Lady Huskies in the second half, scoring two more goals early in the second half. Playing offensively in front of the Ashe goal, Eggers got the ball to forward Emily Banner in the 42nd minute, who was able to turn and shoot with her left foot a hook shot, a surprising goal that fooled the Ashe keeper and spotted Avery a 4-0 advantage.
Six minutes later, a handball was called on Ashe from about 30 yards outside of goal. Smith took the direct free kick and once again shot a magnificent shot which dropped just inside the crossbar of the goal, out of the keeper’s reach for a 5-0 Big Red bulge.
Coach Evaul took the opportunity in the second half to use bench players, but at this point he started putting more subs in at a time.
Freshman Savannah Perry got on the scoreboard with her first high school goal in the 61st minute. Smith sent a cross in front of the goal. Savannah Perry was in place to put the ball in. Chelsy Hoffman, the only other freshman on the team, got an assist on the final goal. She passed the ball back to Smith, who tried to pass the ball forward back to Hoffman, but before Hoffman could get to it the ball went in uncontested by the Ashe goalie, making the score 7-0.
Avery’s coaches completely emptied out the bench over the final ten minutes of action. The Lady Vikings managed to hold on to the shutout. Five different Lady Vikings scored in the game as the squad took 35 shots in the first half; scoring three, with 8 saves from Ashe keeper Mariah Richardson. Fewer than 9% of the shots scored.
The second half was better, percentage-wise. Nineteen shots were taken; four scored, two were saved by the replacement keeper, and 13 went wide. Just over one of every five Avery shots found the back of the opposing net.
Ashe had four shots on goal, with Avery keeper Mercedes Bentley saving one to earn her seventh shutout of the season. Helping earn the shutout was Avery’s backline, anchored by senior sweeper Hayden Blackburn, with Megan Robbins and Kaley Faulkner as outside backs. Katelynn Eudy continues to be a key defensive player as stopper. The junior also is a key offensive player, getting the ball out of the transition area of the field and up to the offense.
Avery played without the services of starter Jennie Elrod for the week, who was hampered by injury.
The Viking offense was a buzz saw, scoring 18 goals in the three games leading up to Monday’s conference match, and allowed only one goal against.
Avery has scored 60 goals and allowed only five goals over the 11-game stretch of the season thus far. Seven Lady Vikings have scored multiple times this season, with three players accounting for almost two thirds of the goals.
On the season, Smith leads with 20 goals and 18 assists, followed by Banner with ten goals and 15 assists. Elyse Perry has nine goals and two assists, followed closely by Eggers with seven goals and ten assists. Katelynn Eudy has three goals and seven assists,
The Lady Vikings traveled to Mooresboro and played in front of a boisterous and largely partisan Gryphon crowd for a much-anticipated meeting on Monday with sixth-ranked
Both teams played with passion and great skill, and both offenses created opportunities to score. Both squads also had strong goalkeepers which denied virtually every shot attempt in the first half to keep the contest scoreless.
Avery’s best scoring chance in the opening half came off a Mary Chesnut Smith direct kick. The kick pinged off the left post and ricocheted away from the goal.
The Vikings received strong defensive play in goal from Mercedes Bentley throughout the night, and benefited from a great effort from junior midfielder Katelynn Eudy, who asserted herself time after time winning balls on headers and disrupting the offense of the Gryphons.
“Katelynn gave them as much trouble as their player no. 13 (TJCA midfield/defender Victoria Bennett) gave to us. They were equal in how they controlled their area of the field,” Avery head soccer coach Tom Evaul said following the match. “Katelynn is like a silent and deadly snake, because she does everything and gets no recognition for it. She’s a very valuable player to us. She’s not a leading scorer and doesn’t get a lot of credit, but she patrols the middle of the field extremely well. We couldn’t do what we have done without her.”
Thomas Jefferson tried to put pressure on Avery in the second half, putting the ball into the box on multiple occasions and once earning a corner kick. Each time, however, the Vikings net-minder Mercedes Bentley rose to the occasion to make a save or deflect a ball harmlessly away from goal.
“The first thing I did was thank Mercedes for playing this year. I tell you, goalkeeping was our biggest concern this year and she has really come through,” Coach Evaul said. “This was the first game that she was really challenged and she played very well.”
“This was by far the best game by Mercedes. She came out of goal when she needed to come out and stayed back when she needed to. She took gambles that paid off and she continues to get better and better,” Coach Bledsoe added.
The lone goal of the match came in the 66th minute of play. On the dribble, junior Mary Chesnut Smith was tripped at about 25 yards out from the goal. One of the few fouls called on the night was called, and Smith used the precision of a master surgeon to pinpoint the location of a shot that cleared the defense, sailed just over the extended arms of TJCA keeper Murphy D’oyen, and dropped into the net for the goal.
The shot was not unlike several shots that Smith has taken this season, but this shot was special.
“I was just praying it would go in,” Smith said of the goal.
“Chesnut has been great with three or four of those sort of shots, but this one was off a good goalkeeper,” Coach Bledsoe interjected.
With the narrow lead, the Avery defense then took center stage. With Bentley proverbially standing on her head in net, senior Hayden Blackburn and the Viking defense made play after play to thwart any opportunity for the Gryphons to tally the equalizer in regulation.
Avery’s players and coaches was jubilant after the win, the team’s 12th straight to start the season. The team recognizes the difficulty with gaining the win as a top-ranked team on the road.
“We were focused on their player number 14 (Courtney Flack), but realized in the first half that number 13 (Bennett) was the one who started their plays. I don’t think they’re as strong up front as I expected, but their defense was good,” Coach Evaul said after the win. “They broke down our speed and forced us to take shots from way outside that we normally shouldn’t be taking. I think what really helped us was the two games we won in the final minute against Polk and
The Lady Vikings return to the pitch this week highlighted by another big challenge, traveling to
