DOBSON — After being unable to play for more than a year, North Surry opened the girls soccer season with two overtime games in three days.
After dropping the season opener to West Stokes 7-5 on March 15, the Lady Greyhounds outlasted Surry Central with a 1-0 win on March 17.
An overtime goal from North’s Callie Allen was the deciding factor after neither team scored in regulation.
“Anytime you can get your first win of the season it feels good,” said North Surry coach Eric Jessup. “My girls have played 200 minutes of soccer in the last three days. We dropped one overtime game, but won the other. We’re getting better and that’s the main thing.”
Neither team was at 100% coming into Wednesday’s match. North Surry lost a starting player to injury earlier in the week, while Surry Central was without two starters due to a family emergency.
Central coach Adan Garcia only has 14 players on the roster, so the team already had limited numbers. Of the 14, two are seniors, two are juniors and the rest are underclassmen.
“We did well,” Garcia said. “The fact that we could hold them as a small and inexperienced team says a lot about these girls.”
“Coach Garcia, he had his game plan ready,” Jessup said.
Maintaining North Surry’s speedy strikers was a focal point for the Eagles. The Eagles especially had to keep an eye on sophomore Cynthia Chaire, who scored four goals in North’s opening match against West Stokes.
“Coach Garcia stacked his defense really well and played a true sweeper,” Jessup said. “Cynthia Chaire did an unbelievable job for us keeping the ball pressed up in the Central defense. Martha Antunez, the sweeper for Surry Central, did an equally good job of keeping Cynthia at bay for most of the game.”
Antunez kept pressure on Chaire to limit her scoring opportunities inside the 18-yard box. The back line of Antunez, Wendy Cantor, Kimberly Gomez and Ashley Santamaria made North Surry forwards Chaire, Allen and Eve Bodnar settle for longer shots.
If the Hounds attempted to send deep through balls over the defense, Central keeper Leticia Valenzuela was comfortable leaving her line to chase it down.
Central had just two shots on goal in the first half, but threatened to score in the second. Golden Eagle freshman Karlie Robertson had two looks in the first 10 minutes of the half, but both were saved by North Surry keeper Hailey Smith.
“I had a lot of fun watching Karlie because she’s never played soccer up until a couple weeks ago,” Garcia said. “The fact that these girls are already getting it says a lot about them. They’re smart, and every time I’m talking they’re listening to every little thing.”
North Surry also had opportunities to score the game-deciding goal, but failed to find the back of the net in the second half. The Greyhounds did manage to score in the first 90 seconds of overtime.
Chaire broke free and faced Valenzuela one-on-one. Valenzuela deflected Chaire’s shot, but Allen was there to clean it up.
North Surry had two chances to extend the lead on corner kicks, but failed to convert. The Hounds shifted into defense mode for the second OT period and Central went all-out attack.
With time running out, Antunez had a good look inside the 18 but sent the shot over the crossbar. The senior intercepted the following goal kick, but that shot sailed wide right.
Time expired to give North Surry its first win of the 2021 season.
“Weatherly Reeves really controlled the tempo of the game for us,” Jessup said. “We about wore her out tonight. She took all the big throw-ins and some free kicks; she really did everything. She really led on the field for us tonight.”
Jessup went on to say how his girls fought hard and it was good to get a win against a quality opponent.
“It was a good battle and a great game to watch,” he said. “That’s how you get better.”
North Surry has a week to recover from back-to-back overtime games. The Hounds don’t play again until hosting Carver (0-2) on March 24.
Surry Central drops to 0-2 with the loss. Garcia said it’s still early in the season and he’s confident his girls can bounce back because they’ve got a great work ethic and are eager to learn.
“I have yet to hear them say, ‘Coach, I can’t do that,’ and I love that,” Garcia said. “I love so much about this group. I just can’t wait to see how much we improve.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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