By Allen LaMountain
Elizabethton had to overcome the jolt of two quick scores by South Greene on Tuesday evening at Dave Rider Field, but once that was accomplished it was smooth sailing.
The Cyclones ( 5-2-1 region, 7-5 overall) scored four unanswered goals in knocking off the Rebels 6-2 to complete its region schedule.
Three games remain on the schedule with Sullivan Central visiting Brown-Childress and two more non-region contests also on the horizon next week.
The Rebels scored on its first shot attempt as Cheyenne Upton directed a corner kick to the middle of the Cyclone goal box, from where Heath Crum directed the shot past EHS goalkeeper Luke Broyles.
The goal came in the fourth minute of play and gave the Rebels a 1-nil lead that was as shortlived as a soft serve ice cream cone. Senior Joey Stahl got the equalizer just one minute later, scoring on a fine crossing pass from Raphael Teixeira.
“Raphael was about to cross it, but he was crowded in,” said Stahl. “So he ran it in and saw that I was open straight in front of the net and he put his pass right to me and I was able to nudge it in.
“We were a little shocked when they scored so quickly, but we knew we could do better. There was some left over disappointment from yesterday, so we determined to make better passes and just working better as a team.”
In the seventh minute, Teixeira got his first goal of the match with an assist from Stewart Clark to give EHS a 2-1 lead — but SG didn’t take long to get that goal back.
In the 12th minute, Upton scored when she split two defenders inside the EHS goal box and slid one past Broyles to tie the match at 2-2.
Nine minutes later, the Cyclones went on the attack from the home sidelines and Teixeira was taken down in the Rebels goal area and he was awarded a penalty kick. Teixeira did not miss, striking the ball past South Greene’s goalkeeper Scott Brooks to give EHS a 3-2 halftime lead.
“They scored so fast it was like I didn’t see it,” said Teixeira. “But we responded well to it and got a goal back just as quickly. We are passing well and making good runs, you know, and that is how we have to play.”
It was all Cyclones in the second half as EHS dominated ball possession and didn’t give SG a shot on goal in the half. The Cyclones got goals from Devin Clark (assist Tasa Mushayamunda), Isaac Fife (assisted by Broyles) and Ashton Stevens with an assist by Teixeira.
On the goal by Fife, Teixeira sent a nice pass across the goal box to Broyles who was charging from the right side. Broyles shot was stopped by Brooks, but the rebound was settled by Fife, who drilled a left-footed shot past Brooks, who had no chance to defend against it.
“We knocked the ball around real for the first four or five minutes,” said Cyclones head coach Bill McClay. “The wind kind of aided South Greene’s ability to play the ball in. And we knew that coming into the game, we just had to play smarter. The corner kick they scored on was just a good play on their part. We were in position to defend the ball but it just came to their guy where he could head it in.
“I felt we responded well and got those two goals back, but then we decided not to play the ball on the ground for a stretch of time. We may have lost a little momentum or whatever at that point, but the penalty kick revived us and got us going for the second half.”
———
South Greene 2 0 — 2
Elizabethton 3 3 — 6
First Half
SG—H. Crum (assist – Upton), 4:00
E—Stahl (assist – Teixeira), 5:00
E—Teixeira (assist – S.Clark), 7:00
SG—Upton (unassisted), 12:00
E— Teixeira (penalty kick), 19:00
Second Half
E—D. Clark (assist – Mushayamunda), 43:00
E—Fife (assist – Broyles), 62:00
E—Stevens (assist Teixeira), 73:00
Shots on goal: EHS 12, SG 2. Yellow card (EHS – Birchfield, 78:00).
