Special to the Maroon Devils Network – The Lady Devils soccer team traveled to Highlands on Thursday to take on conference rival Highlands Highlanders for a very cold game. Going into the match the Swain Soccer program had never beat Highlands in soccer. The game started with a very low temperature and with the Lady Devils having to play with snow blowing sideways into their faces. “The weather really made for a slow start for us as we were struggling to adjust for the first 10 minutes of the game.” said Head Coach Scott Cline. “After we adjusted we started playing our game.”
14 minutes into the game Swain would get on the board first when Sophomore Isabelle Green would find Senior Kyndall Cochran for her first goal of the night. Just two minutes later Cochran would find Freshman Avery Maples to make the score 2-0 Swain. 20 seconds later Freshman Kaylee Simmons would dribble in and take a shot from the left side of the goal increasing the Lady Devil lead. Swain would be called for a hand ball in the box late in the first half. Highlands would score on their penalty kick opportunity.
Two minutes into the second half Simmons would find Cochran for her second goal of the night. With 22 minutes left in the game Green would find Cochran again for her 3rd goal of the night. With 12 minutes left in the game Simmons would find Green on a break away for the Lady Devils 6th goal of the night. Highlands would score twice more. The first one was from a penalty kick when there was a foul in the box. The second one was from a Highlands corner kick where Swain had an own goal. Swain would come out on top beating Highlands 6-3 for the first time ever.
On defense, Sophomore Bri Ross led the way with 30 steals/clears, followed by Sophomore Kate Poss with 29, Freshman Jadyn Perez with 25, Junior Peyton Hines with 22 and Junior Rebecca Duncan with 20. In goal Sophomore Maddie Lay had three saves. The player of the game for the Lady Devils was Freshman Jadyn Perez. “Jadyn really stepped it up in midfield.” said Cline. “She was not afraid to step to the ball against one of their hardest kickers.”
The Lady Devils improve to 8-2 overall and 4-0 in the Smoky Mountain Conference. The Lady Devils only defeat has come to undefeated 2A Pisgah. Both games were played at Pisgah due to weather. Currently Cochran sits at 5th in the state with 21 goals scored at the 1A level. Green is 4th in the state with 14 assists on the season. As of Tuesday Swain was ranked number 16th in the state at the 1A level.
Swain will have three games next week. On Monday they will travel to Cherokee for a 4:30 conference game. On Thursday they will host Hayesville for a 6:00 conference game and then on Friday they will host Mitchell at 4:30 for a non-conference game.