Lady Eagles Win 9-0 Over Lake Forest On the Road
9/1/23 -- Cleveland, TN
With a 9-0 win over Lake Forest the Rhea Middle School Girls Soccer team moved to a record of 4 and 2 overall. The Lake Forest game was played at Bradley Central High School with the Eagles dominating from the kick off and seven different players scoring. Early goals were netted by Annalee Wills off of feeds from Mercy Ferguson.
Mercy was next to score followed quickly by Addi Hughes off an assist from Grady Sue Parker. Lillian Ferguson followed with a long-curved arc to the back post. The final goal of the half came from Juliet Ferguson who normally anchors the Eagles back line. Juliet’s goal came from a nice feed from Lyla Roddy. This is the first time anyone can remember three different family members, Mercy, Lillian and Juliet Ferguson, scoring in the same game.
In the second half the Eagles worked to maintain possession and switch the field of play. Mercy Ferguson scored her second goal off a pass from Lyla Roddy, Blakeli Graham received a well-placed corner from Caroline Dyer, took a touch and then slotted a ball into the back corner from about eighteen yards out. The final goal of the match came from Lidia Butt who turned on a feed from Brynlee Fitzgerald and sent the ball home to end the match.
Lidia had this to say after the game-
"Our team was able to string together a lot of good passes in the first half and put up 6 goals by halftime. I'm proud of my team for working so hard to score. Both teams showed really good sportsmanship to each other and that was nice."
In the previous two weeks the Eagles lost two very close battles to a much-improved Athens team. The first game was even at the end of regulation and went to penalty kicks. Despite two great saves by Liberty Raymer, the PKs ended in a 3-2 loss with Lyla Roddy and Lily Love both scoring. The second game was even until deep into the second half when a somewhat questionable call gave Athens a free kick that they were able to convert. The game ended with Athens winning 0-1. The JV game followed with a close battle and with ten seconds left Millie Darnell broke free, drove to goal and buried the ball in the near post to win the match 1-0.
Between the Athens games, the Eagles traveled to Lee University stadium to play Ocoee Middle School. After a slow start by the Eagles, Mercy Ferguson turned on a pass from Lidia Butt and laced a goal to the far post. A few minutes later Annalee Willis hit a looping ball that found the back of the net. Play was dominated by Rhea county with solid play coming from midfielders Lyla Roddy, Blakeli Graham, Lidia Butt, Addison Hughes and Collyns Stinson. This game ended in a 2-0 victory for the Eagles.
The Eagles are at home next week with a game on Tuesday, September 12 with JV starting at 4:30 against Sale Creek followed by Varsity against Lake Forest. On Thursday September 14th, the \Varsity plays Ocoee at 5:45p