Murphy – The Swain Lady Devils soccer team visited the Murphy Bulldogs on Thursday night. Swain was looking to avenge an early season loss of 9-2 to the Bulldogs. Murphy is #15 in the state and undefeated in conference play. Swain jumped out to a 1-0 lead 14 minutes into the game off a goal by Junior Kyndall Cochran. The Swain defense held off the Murphy scoring going into halftime. The next goal of the game came 16 minutes into the second half from a Swain own goal. The next goal for Murphy came with nine minutes left in the game when a Swain defender was taken down. Murphy would score one more time with 25 seconds to go in the game.
“We had a game plan going into this game and the girls did a great job of executing it.” said Coach Scott Cline. “Unfortunately, we just did not have the outcome we wanted.”
On defense Junior Jessie Richards led the way with 21 clears/steals, followed by Freshman Bri Ross with 19, and Seniors Sharlotte Queen-Jackson and Alana Booth each with 11. In goal Senior Josie Parker recorded 12 saves.
The Swain Player of the Game was Junior Jessie Richards. “We could give the player of the game to the entire defense for the way they played. Jessie was the person who stood out the most and held the leading scorer in the state at the 1A level to just one goal that was scored with 25 seconds left in the game.” said Coach Scott Cline. “She truly embraced the role we gave her.”