The Swain Lady Devils soccer team hosted the Murphy Bulldogs on Thursday night in a conference matchup losing 9-2. The Lady Devils had a rough first half battling injuries and having a small roster size with players having to miss the game. Murphy jumped out to a 7-0 half time lead. In the second half Murphy scored again 15 minutes into the half. Swain answered off a shot from Bri Ross that bounced off defenders and into the goal. Later Ross found the back of the net again. With 10 minutes to go and still up 8-2 Murphy put back in their full starting lineup scoring only one more time. “We knew going into this game that Murphy has possibly the best team in the conference after having three players from Tri-County transfer over. We also did not help matters with our slow start in the first half”, said Head Coach Scott Cline. “The girls showed heart in the second half when at times we had no subs for them and keeping the scoring even at 2-2.”
On offense Freshman Bri Ross led the way with two goals and Freshman Isabelle Green had one assist. On the defensive side Junior Jessie Richards led the way with 23 clears/steals, followed by Freshman Bri Ross with 20, with Senior Alana Booth and Senior Sharlotte Queen-Jackson each recording 10. In goal Senior Josie Parker recorded 22 saves.
The Swain Player of the game was Freshman Maddie Lay. “She showed a ton of grit out there playing through a lingering injury throughout the game,” Cline said. “She spent halftime being tended to by our Athletic Trainer just so she could play the second half.”