Allen scores first hat trick for Lady Wildcats in 6-1 win over Grace Christian

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:30 a.m.

Senior midfielder Alex Allen had her first hat trick for the Lady Wildcats on Tuesday, scoring three goals for Oak Ridge in a 6-1 win over Grace Christian at home.

Also scoring for Oak Ridge were senior Ellie Brown, junior Carleigh White, and senior Katie Welsh.

Junior Allie Dunn scored the one goal for Grace Christian.

“I guess I just had a good game,” Allen said.

The undefeated Lady Wildcats will play a district game at Powell at 6 p.m. Thursday.

“We’re looking forward to that,” Oak Ridge Coach Jeff Trombly said. “That’s a big game for us.”

A win against the Lady Panthers would edge the Lady Wildcats closer to having home field advantage in the playoffs, Trombly said.

Oak Ridge is now 10-0 overall and 3-0 in District 3-Class AAA, and Trombly said the Lady Wildcats are trying to keep that run going.

Trombly said Oak Ridge has more depth and more athletes than Grace Christian, a smaller Class A-AA team that Coach Donnie Green is trying to build.

Grace Christian did not give up despite being down the entire game and trailing by a huge margin in shots on goal. With 10 minutes remaining, for example, the Lady Wildcats had 34 shots on goal compared to seven for the Lady Rams. And at that point, Oak Ridge had had eight corner kicks to the Lady Rams’ one.

“We played a high-caliber team,” Grace Christian senior goalkeeper McKenzie Krebs said. The Lady Rams were at a disadvantage because of their smaller size, but they played with heart, she said.

“We didn’t give up,” Krebs said.

Allen scored first on a bicycle kick when she lobbed the ball into the goal after a corner kick by Brown about six minutes into the game.

Brown, a midfielder, scored second, kicking the ball into the right side of the net past an outstretched Krebs, giving Oak Ridge a 2-0 lead with about 26:09 left in the first half. The Lady Wildcats already had a 13-2 shot advantage by that point.

The Lady Wildcats scored their third goal on a pass from sophomore Alex Rouse on the left side of the field to junior forward Carleigh White in front of the net. White’s goal made it 3-0 with about 10:31 left in the half.

Dunn, who had a few breakaway opportunities stopped by Oak Ridge, scored the one goal for Grace Christian on a breakaway when Oak Ridge was unable to clear the ball out of its own end with about five minutes left in the half. The score was 3-1 in favor of Oak Ridge.

Allen scored her second goal about 10 minutes into the second half on a pass from the right side of the field that she kicked straight in, making it 4-1, after sophomore Zoe Van Hook dribbled it in.

Welsh scored about a minute later on a header off a pass from freshman Valerie Carter across the field from right to left.

Then, Allen scored again about three minutes later after her first shot deflected off a Grace Christian defender, and she was able to kick in the rebound.

Trombly said he moved junior Leah Scudder, a right back, to the middle of the ‘Cats defense on Tuesday to help match the speed of Dunn. And he moved Welsh, normally a defender, up front to get her more power.

Trombly said senior goalkeeper Jas Rizk had a great game for Oak Ridge. The Lady Wildcats played without senior forward Macy Barclay on Tuesday.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

 

 

 

 

 

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