PILOT MOUNTAIN — East Surry broke a recent losing streak by defeating Mount Airy 2-1 on Monday.
Goals from Morgan Bryant and Ember Midkiff gave the Lady Cardinals (2-9-1) their first win since March 17. Monday’s victory was also East Surry’s first win over Mount Airy since April 2017.
The Bears and Cardinals played three times in 2021. The rivals first tied 1-1 (OT) in Pilot Mountain on March 24. Mount Airy won the only meeting held in the Granite City by a score of 4-0. East’s win puts the schools’ record against each other 1-1-1 for the season.
Despite the final score favoring East Surry, Mount Airy won the possession battle and took far more shots than East. The Lady Bears (4-7-1) out-shot the Cardinals 16-6.
Mount Airy’s Grey Moore started and ended the match with free kicks on target. The junior had the first shot of the game two minutes after the opening whistle. Moore’s shot was saved by East’s Katie Collins, who had 10 saves in the win.
Mount Airy coach Will Hurley used different combinations of players up front during the match. This included players such as Aliyah Flores, Kate Deaton, Naz Bell and Moore.
East Surry made it into the Mount Airy 18-yard box just once in the first 10 minutes. This came off a through ball from Morgan Bryant to Ember Midkiff, although it didn’t develop into a shot.
Bryant and Midkiff found themselves in Bear territory in the 15th minute on an attack that started with Kynsley Penney on defense. Bryant passed horizontally to Midkiff, who then proceeded to return the favor while setting Bryant up for a one-on-one shot. Bryant found the back of the net on East Surry’s first shot attempt to go up 1-0.
East Surry wouldn’t record another shot until the 32nd minute. Mount Airy, in the meantime, continued to pound the ball in the Cards’ defensive third. East coach William Hart went deep into his bench to keep fresh players on defense in order to fend off the countless Bear attacks.
The Cardinals’ second goal came about when East was trying to counterattack and Mount Airy was whistled for its first foul of the game. Liannette Chavez took the free kick near midfield in the 32nd minute. Chavez led the speedy Midkiff with a pass that set the latter up with an open look, which Midkiff nailed to go up 2-0.
Needing to score before halftime, Mount Airy used its speed on the sidelines to get deep into East Surry territory. A deep throw in made its way into the 18-yard box where it was kicked around before sailing into the net, with Kate Deaton being the last Mount Airy player to get a foot on it.
The Bears’ goal came in the 37th minute. After the goal, the score remained the same into halftime. With the exception of a shot from Samantha Blose in the 46th minute, the first 20 minutes of the second half were contested almost entirely in the middle third of the field or East Surry’s defensive third.
Deaton took a shot straight-on in the 45th minute that was saved by Collins. Six minutes later, Karyme Bueno sent a shot into the side-netting. Moore then had a free kick 25 yards out that was saved in the 55th minute.
There were times in the second half when Mount Airy had nine of its 11 players attacking. Mackenzie Hudson, Mount Airy’s keeper, stayed back, as well as senior sweeper Brianna Banten.
East Surry pushed up into Mount Airy’s defensive third two more times in the match. Bryant streaked up the left sideline before firing a left-footed shot that was saved by Hudson in the 58th minute, and Chavez took a pass back from Bryant in the 68th minute that sailed less than two feet over the crossbar.
The Cardinals packed as many as 10 players in the box in high pressure situations such as corner kicks.
The Bears took shots from all over, but couldn’t get one past Collins before time expired. Moore had one final chance with less than 20 seconds on the clock. A Cardinal foul was called 30 yards out from the goal. Moore rushed to take the kick as her teammates poured into the box.
The final 10 seconds were being counted down when Moore fired a last-ditch effort at the goal. The shot was on frame, but saved by Collins to secure the Cardinal victory.
The Bears and Cardinals both end their regular seasons on Wednesday. Mount Airy travels to North Stokes (2-8) and East Surry travels to Surry Central (3-7).
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com