The Lady Devils soccer team traveled to Davidson to take on the Community School of Davidson Spartans on Monday night to open up the NCHSAA playoffs. The Davidson Charter School came into the game ranked number 1 at the 1A level in the state and undefeated. Throughout their season, they only allowed three opposing teams to score a single goal on them and had won seven games by mercy ruling their Charter School opponents.
The Lady Devils would play a strong defense for the first 22 minutes of the game. Davidson would get on the scoreboard with their first goal with 18 minutes left in the first half. Over the next 12 minutes, Davidson would add five more goals taking a 6-0 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Lady Devils would score the first goal of the half when senior Isabelle Green would find junior Kaylee Simmons for a goal just five minutes in the half. The Spartans would score the next three goals of the game as the Lady Devils played a tough defense avoiding the mercy rule. The game would finish with the Spartans taking the 9-1 win over the Lady Devils.
“Today we played a really good team. The best in the state,” said Head Coach Scott Cline. “The girls played hard for the full 80 minutes, and that’s all we could ask of them today. It is just hard for us to compete with these Charter Schools that are 1A but are in a very populated area.”
On defense, senior Kate Poss led the way with 33 steals/clears. Poss was also named Player of the Game.
“Kate played a tough game back on defense as she found herself under pressure quite often,” said Cline.
The loss ended the season for the Lady Devils.
“Overall, I’m proud of this team with how they overcame a lot this season. We had a lot of injuries and the team focused on persevering and thinking positive all season,” said Cline. “We appreciate the leadership of our three seniors Isabelle Green, Kate Poss and Maddie Lay. They have played a major role in the soccer program at Swain.”
The Lady Devils finish out the season with an 8-4 overall record and 7-3 in conference play as the 2nd place team in the Smoky Mountain Conference.
Final regular season game
The Lady Devils Soccer Team traveled to Murphy on Friday night to take on the Murphy Bulldogs. The game was a tiebreaker game to determine second place in the Smoky Mountain Conference and to decide who would get to advance to the playoffs. The two teams split the two meetings they had earlier in the season.
The Lady Devils would take the 4-1 lead into halftime.
In the second half, junior Mazie Helpman would score her fourth and the final goal of the game with just under five minutes left off a pass from Green.
“The girls came out ready to play this game,” said Coach Cline. “They knew the playoffs and second place were riding on this game and they came prepared both mentally and physically.”
Friday’s game followed a 9-0 win over Hayesville.