Special to the Maroon Devils Network – The Lady Devils soccer team hosted the Murphy Bulldogs on Thursday night for a very important conference game. The Lady Devils come into the game on a 10 game winning streak and undefeated in conference play. The Lady Bulldogs came into the game with only one conference loss, which was to Swain earlier in the season. It was the largest crowd at a Swain soccer game this season and possibly ever. “We knew it was going to be a big game for us and for Murphy.” said Head Coach Scott Cline. “We had to focus on calming our nerves and executing our game.”
The game was a hard fought game throughout. For the first 15 minutes of the first half the Lady Devils kept the ball on the Bulldogs half for at least 90% of the time. 17 minutes into the game the Bulldogs had their one breakaway of the half and they converted the opportunity into a goal. The half would end off a free kick from Senior Kyndall Cochran who hit the cross bar. The second half would continue to prove to be a battle of defenses. Swain would have numerous opportunities, hitting the cross bar a few more times and shooting to the keeper, but they just could not convert the shots into goals. The game would finish 1-0 in favor of the Bulldogs.
On defense, Sophomore Kate Poss would lead the way with 30 clears/steals. Sophomore Bri Ross added 28 followed by Junior Rebecca Duncan with 18, Junior Peyton Hines with 15, and Freshman Jadyn Perez with 11. “At times we had some shining moments at getting the ball moved around.” said Cline. “The problem is we just could not finish.”
The player of the game for the Lady Devils was Sophomore Kate Poss. “Kate really stepped it up for the team in this game.” said Cline. “It wasn’t even about any stats with her. It was all about how she really gave it her all out there and recovered quickly when she would get pulled up. Overall, many of the girls gave it their all in this game.”
The Lady Devils are now 13-3 overall and 8-1 in the Smoky Mountain Conference. They are tied for number 1 in the conference with Murphy. Both teams have three games left to play. If both teams were to win them all then a tiebreaking game at a neutral site would be used to decide the conference champion. On Tuesday at 6:00 they will host the Cherokee Braves for Senior Night. Seniors will be recognized starting around 5:40. Swain will host Highlands on Thursday at 6:00 next week also.