Oak Ridge senior Leah Scudder (22) scored after a breakaway and beating two defenders in the 27th minute of a 1-0 win over Central in a District 3-AAA semifinal game at home on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Oak Ridge beat Central 1-0 in a girls’ soccer district semifinal game on Tuesday and will play at Powell for the district championship on Friday.
The Lady Wildcats (10-6-1, 3-1 District 3-AAA) outshot the Lady Bobcats 38-5 at Oak Ridge High School in the district tournament semifinal game on Tuesday.
The shots-to-goal ratio should be closer to 10:1 or better, Oak Ridge Coach Jeff Trombly said.
“We’ve got to finish a lot better than that,” he said. “We had plenty of chances. We made it too close.”
Central came into the game undefeated, with a 16-0 overall record and a 6-0 district record. But the Lady Bobcats hadn’t played the top two seeds in the tournament, Powell and Oak Ridge. (Other district teams that did not play Powell or Oak Ridge and instead took 3-0 forfeits were Campbell County, Clinton, and Gibbs.)
Trombly said Oak Ridge needs a crowd to travel to Powell on Friday.
The Lady Wildcats are guaranteed at least two more games after beating Central in the District 3-AAA semifinal on Tuesday: the District 3-AAA championship game at Powell on Friday and also in the Region 2-AAA tournament after that. If Oak Ridge beats Powell on Friday, Trombly said, the Lady Wildcats will play at home in the regional tournament semifinal game.
Oak Ridge senior Leah Scudder scored the lone goal for the Lady Wildcats in the 27th minute on Tuesday on a breakaway and after beating two defenders in front of the goal. She kicked a low line drive into the left side of the net.
Oak Ridge had other scoring opportunities, including a high shot by Scudder a few minutes later that Central goalkeeper Chloe Maxey was just able to stop with her hands at the top of the net and a breakaway shot by Scudder early in the second half that Maxey was able to deflect wide right.
Oak Ridge junior Zoe Van Hook had at last four shots in the last six minutes of the first half. Trombly said she finished with at least a dozen shots.
Lady Wildcats sophomore Kate Hausladen did not play Tuesday and will be out for a few weeks due to a concussion from the Bearden game last week.
Oak Ridge and Powell (11-3-1, 5-0) also played for the district championship last year. The Lady Panthers won that game during a 5-4 penalty kick shootout after 80 minutes of regulation time, two 10-minute overtimes, and two five-minute sudden death overtimes. It was believed to be the first-ever district soccer title for the Lady Panthers.
Powell has won the last two regular-season games against Oak Ridge, a 4-1 win last year and a 4-1 win this year.
The Friday championship game starts at 7 p.m. at the Powell Soccer Complex, located in front of Powell Middle School, which is at 3329 West Emory Road.
Oak Ridge junior Zoe Van Hook (17) had at least a dozen shots during a 1-0 District 3-AAA semifinal win over Central at home on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
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