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Anna Gray goes in for a kick at the Lady Devils soccer game played on Thursday, May 18. The game was a hard fought one and the Lady Devils only lost to opponents Cornerstone Charter after numerous overtime plays.
Larry Griffin
lgriffin@thesmokymountaintimes.com
The Lady Devils soccer team is out of the playoffs after losing against Cornerstone Charter on Thursday, May 18, but the game was a tough one that saw two 10-minute overtime periods and other trials to decide the winner. The game ended in a 1-1 tie and had to go to penalty kicks to decide Cornerstone as the winner, with 4-2 in the penalty kicks.
The goals were scored on opposite ends of the game – Cornerstone scored one and a half minutes into the game, and the 1-0 score held for much of the rest of the game as the ball was kicked back and forth in an even-matched struggle between the teams.
Finally, with four minutes left in the game, Lady Devil Anna Gray found Mya Burrows Kurr, who shot the ball over the goalkeeper’s head and tied the game.
There were then two 10-minute overtime periods in which neither team scored.
After that, there were two five-minute golden goal overtime periods. But no points were scored then, either.
The penalty kicks were where the game finally ended up decided.
Head Coach Scott Cline called it “quite a game.”
“Our girls did such an amazing job throughout the game. We knew going in that this would be a hard battle against one of the top teams in the state,” he said. “Their goalkeeper was the best I have ever seen at the high school level. Our girls stepped up to the challenge. It is definitely a positive going into next year where we know our goal is to be competing for a state championship. We will definitely miss our Seniors and the impact they have had on the soccer program.”
Gray led defense with nine clears/steals, while Sophie Matz got five. Gracie Sutton got 14 goalkeeper saves. Gray was the player of the game, with Cline saying she did “an amazing job back on defense with recovery runs and in helping to keep Cornerstone from scoring more goals.”
The Lady Devils finished their season 15-5-1 and 11-1 in the conference. Burrows-Kurr was the scoring leader with 26 goals, while Karena Cline got 15 and Cora Watkins got 12. Karena Cline was the assist leader with 29, while Sutton got 74 saves and Gray got 144 clears/steals in total. The Lady Devils also recorded 10 shutouts on the season.