County rivals battle to 2-2 draw

Community's Courtney Williams (8) heads the ball away from Lady Champion Regan Monajjem in the first half. (T-G Photo by Jimmy Jones) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

It was a tale of two halves Monday afternoon in Wartrace as Community Junior High and Cascade Middle took on one another in withering heat that would test the conditioning and mental toughness of both squads as the match wore on.

The game ended in a 2-2 tie but could have gone in either direction at any given time during the closing minutes.

Community (6-0-2) got out to a great start when Courtney Williams thinned the nets early on to give her team the lead before the fans could get settled into their seats.

Eight minutes later Kristen Brothers rocketed one by Cascade goalie Cari Brown for a two-goal lead that would stand through the intermission.

"I thought that we played very well in the first half except for a couple of unlucky bounces that resulted in easy goals," Cascade coach Monica Lewis said. "We controlled the ball for the most part and we were passing the ball to the open lanes.

"We just seemed to be a half foot short getting the ball into position to give our kids a chance to score."

As frustrating as the first half was for the Lady Champs (4-1-1), the emotion manifested itself into total misery for Viqueen second-year coach Mark Neill as he watched his undefeated squad squander one scoring opportunity after another as fatigue started to set in for his athletes.

Cascade striker Alyssa Hoover erased the zero from her team's side of the scoreboard with a laser shot past Purple and Gold goalie Megan Sager at the 11:32 mark to cut the lead in half.

Courtney Carter then found a streaking Tori Slater in front of the goal with a beautiful touch pass that Slater did not miss from point-blank range at the 8:39 mark to knot the score.

"We played hard tonight; we just didn't play very smart," Neill said. "Our midfielders and strikers failed to communicate during the game and it cost us on several occasions when easy shots were available.

"I told the girls after the game that a tie is not a loss, but it is not a win either. I think that we all feel that this is one that we let get away.

Community striker Kali Sitz and Cascade's Victoria Pimental arrive at the ball the same time at midfield. (T-G Photo by Jimmy Jones) [Click to enlarge]

"Give Cascade credit. They played hard and didn't let an early deficit affect their play the least bit."

"We played well enough to win this game except for a couple of plays," Lewis said. "We controlled the ball on our end a majority of the game.

"I felt that our kids had good rhythm, good ball control and shared the ball very well. We had our chances in the second half but came up a little short.

"It was hot and both teams played extremely hard. You have to give both teams credit for showing a lot of grit out there today."

Community welcomes Webb at 4:30 today.

Cascade takes the short jaunt to Liberty on Thursday at 5.

Webb 4, Liberty 2: Karly Grissom came through for the Lady Feet with a hat trick. Emilee Gibson added the other goal for the Bell Buckle girls. Hannah Waggoner tracked down five saves.