Soccer: Lady Wildcats win four straight games

 

The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats soccer team has won its last four games, and the girls have won both of their district games this season.

The most recent win for the girls was a 2-1 victory at home against West on Tuesday. That was a non-district game.

Before that, the Oak Ridge girls won their last three games. Those were a 8-1 win at Heritage on August 30, a 3-1 victory at home against Grace Christian on August 29, and an 8-3 win at Campbell County, a district game, on August 22.

In their first district game on August 17, the Lady Wildcats (6-2-1, 2-0 District 3-AAA) beat Halls 8-0 at home.

Oak Ridge is playing at Farragut (5-5, 3-0 District 4-AAA) in a non-district game at 7 p.m. today (Wednesday, September 13).

Here is the girls’ record of wins and losses so far this season:

• Tuesday, August 15—a 2-1 loss at Knoxville Catholic (4-2-1, 1-0 District 4-AA)
• Thursday, August 17—an 8-0 win in a district game at home against Halls (2-5-1, 1-1 District 3-AAA)
• Friday, August 18—a 3-2 win over Arlington (0-5-3), a District 14 team from Shelby County, in the Bearden Invitational
• Saturday, August 19—a 2-2 tie with Bartlett (2-7-1, 1-2 District 15-AAA) of Shelby County in the Bearden Invitational
• Sunday, August 20—a 2-0 loss to Notre Dame (4-3, 1-0 District 2-A) in the Bearden Invitational
• The 8-3 district win at Campbell County (5-3, 0-2 District 3-AAA) on August 22, the 3-1 victory over Grace Christian (5-2-2, 1-0 District 1-A) at home on August 29, and the 8-1 win at Heritage (6-4 District 4-AAA) on August 30

After the Farragut game tonight, the girls have four games remaining in the regular season, and two of them are district games. The first is at Karns (2-3, 0-1) on Tuesday, September 19, and the second is at Powell (6-2, 1-0) on Thursday, September 21. Oak Ridge and Powell have been the top two teams in the district the past few seasons.

The games against Hardin Valley (4-4, 2-1 District 4-AAA) and Bearden (7-3-2, 3-0 District 2-AAA) are both non-district games.

Here are some comments by Oak Ridge Coach Jeff Trombly on a few of the recent games, before the Heritage game:

Bearden Tournament—“We got the opportunity to play some teams outside our region (Memphis—Arlington and Bartlett; Chattanooga—Notre Dame), which gives us a chance to see how the game is played in other parts of the state. Overall, we had a good weekend and were provided with the opportunity to give our young team some good experience against some challenging opponents under some difficult weather conditions.”

Campbell County—”We played well, however, we had some tired legs coming off the weekend at the Bearden Tournament. Overall, I was pleased that we performed well and scored some goals after being shut out against Notre Dame.”

Grace Christian—“Good result against an experienced team that went to the AA state tournament last season. I was pleased that we generated a large number of good scoring opportunities. We had a little difficulty handing their size and speed—we have a young team and the play got a little frantic at the end.  We need to work to get better organized in the back to kill off a game.”

Heritage—“We have not played this team for a while, and I don’t know what to expect. However, I think that playing new teams can keep a team fresh, and we hope we have enough left in the tank to perform well.”

The Grace Christian game, only the second of the season at home, was tied 0-0 at halftime. Freshman Katelyn Mattus scored in the 43rd minute on the fourth of a series of shots in the box, including two by sophomore Katie O’Brien and one off the right post.

The Lady Wildcats, who had a significant shot advantage in the game, scored less than a minute later off a corner kick by O’Brien that led to a goal by freshman Alyssa Tittsworth.

Grace Christian scored on a corner kick with about five minutes remaining, but Oak Ridge responded in the final three minutes when O’Brien passed to freshman Taylor Del Toro, who launched a shot just over the hands of Grace Christian junior goalkeeper Abby Dickens and into the top back of the net.

Mattus scored both goals for Oak Ridge against West at home on Tuesday.

The first was in the 28th minute of the first half after a corner kick by Del Toro from the right side of the field was deflected to the left by a West defender, and Mattus knocked it in.

Despite trailing in shots and scoring opportunities, West tied the game at 1-1 in the 64th minute on a shot by Ibby Petree that veered from left to right just past Oak Ridge junior goalkeeper Laura Snyder.

But in the final two minutes, Oak Ridge freshman Sarah Hammons lobbed a long, high pass to Mattus, who got behind two defenders. West goalkeeper Megan Newport came out to try to make the save, but Mattus, showing patience, dribbled left around Newport and fired the ball right into the net, giving the Lady Wildcats their final 2-1 lead.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

 

 

 

 

 

See more photos here.

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