Avery Soccer Downs Mitchell, Falls at Polk to Close Regular Season

The Avery men’s soccer team, ranked fifth in the latest 1A soccer poll, continued a busy week of soccer last week with a road match at Mitchell on Wednesday, October 28^th, followed by a match at Polk County the following evening.

Avery’s match on a cool, brisk evening at Memorial Stadium in Ledger against Mitchell was a tougher battle than the teams’ first meeting, a 6-1 Avery victory in Newland on September 30^th. On Senior Night, the Mountaineers put up a tough challenge before Avery took control in the second half of a physical match for a 3-1 victory.

The first half was dominated by the Vikings as they kept the ball on the Mitchell defensive half of the field for much of the first 40 minutes, but had no goals to show for their efforts as the teams went to halftime in a scoreless tie.

The Vikings first half drought came to a quick end in the second half. In the 47^th minute, Kyle Griewisch sent a shot in the box, where Jorge Arreola blasted the ball past the lower left side of the Mitchell keeper for the game’s first goal.

Avery picked up a second goal when senior Cody Shadoin chipped a ball over the front line of Mitchell’s defense. The ball set up teammate Isauro Estrada who ran down the ball, dribbled by the back line of defense, and scored above the outreached arms of the goalie for a 2-0 Avery advantage in the 49^th minute.

The Big Red had its third goal in less than 20 minutes as Arreola connected for his second tally of the night, slipping a shot just inside the left post by the sprawling defense, staking Avery to a 3-0 edge in the 60^th minute.

Mitchell benefited from a non-call of offsides by the official, as Matthew Sutton took advantage of the opportunity to prevent the shutout, scoring a goal in the 78^th minute. The goal was too little, too late as the Vikings held on for the two-goal victory.

Last Thursday evening Avery traveled to Columbus for its final match of the 2009 regular season against the Polk County Wolverines. Despite a strong effort, the Vikings came up short in a 3-0 defeat.

Coming off a 3-1 win at Mitchell Wednesday night, the Avery soccer team trekked to Columbus in hopes of finishing the regular season on a winning note at the expense of the Polk Wolverines. The victory was not to be, however, as Polk avenged its loss earlier in the season to Avery with a 3-0 win Thursday night.

Avery was outshot by Polk 23-6 for the match, as Wolverine Cole Weicker had a pair of goals and an assist for the home squad. David Abril tallied the other goal as the Wolverines dropped the Vikings to 13-7-2 overall, and a 9-5 finish in the Western Highlands Conference. By virtue of its victory, Polk and Hendersonville ended the season as co-champions of the Western Highlands Conference.

The Vikings have scored 63 total goals on the season, while the Big Red defense surrendered less than half of that total (31).

Avery’s men’s soccer team competes in postseason play with the 1A state soccer playoffs opening round on Wednesday, November 4^th at Highlands High School, the top seed from the Smoky Mountain Conference with a 14-4-1 overall record..

A full recap on Avery’s performance in the state tournament can be found online at the Journal-Times Sports Blog at: www.ajtsports.blogspot.com or read in next week’s print edition.