Doak slips past Lady Cyclones

By Ivan Sanders
STAR CORRESPONDENT
isanders@starhq.com

   In conditions more appropriate for ducks, the non-conference soccer tilt between Chuckey-Doak and Elizabethton was more reminiscent of a day at Wetlands Water Park with all the slipping and sliding taking place on the field.
   Riding a strong first half scoring output, the Lady Knights dealt the homestanding Lady Cyclones a 4-1 defeat in the friendly confines of Brown-Childress Stadium on Tuesday evening.
   "Chuckey-Doak beat us to almost every ball in the first half," stated Cyclone head coach Bill McClay. "We stood back and let them receive the ball without any challenge, which could have been due to our tentativeness with the wet field conditions."
   The Lady Knights, meanwhile, played with vigor and a balanced scoring attack in the half that was much applauded by Lady Knight head coach Anna Ricker.
   "This was definitely one of our best performances so far this season," stated Ricker. "It was a total team effort from all 16 of our girls with the scoring being distributed between three players and a great performance by our defense."
   Heather Bowman broke the ice for the Lady Knights with a goal at the 28:00 minute of the first half. Ashley Green knotted the score a little less than two minutes later when she drilled a goal at the 30:32 mark.
   Playing against a Cyclone defense that appeared to be standing around flat-footed, the Lady Knight's Nicole Miller once again gave her team a 2-1 advantage as she scored with a little over three minutes to play in the half.
   As the half was nearing an end, Pricilla Riddle stoked the fire a little hotter for the Lady Knights as she collected the third score of the half for Chuckey-Doak to give the Lady Knights a comfortable 3-1 halftime lead.
   Coach McClay used the intermission to add a little spark to his squad as the Lady Cyclones came out with a more intensified personality to begin the second half.
   Play stayed on the Cyclones side of midfield for a majority of the second half as the Lady Cyclones used great combination plays to open up the lanes to score, but one thing was missing and that was the finishing charge on goal to put the ball into the net.
   Said McClay: "I was really pleased with the combination plays and the overlapping by our halfbacks, but we lack the physical speed to beat our opponent to the goal.
   We seemed to just want to stand around and watch as the ball was taken down the sidelines and when the corner kicks went into the middle, we didn't take it to the goal."
   Chuckey-Doak, showing that same physical toughness they are known for, applied solid pressure each time the Lady Cyclones threatened to close the gap.
   A prime illustration of the physical toughness of the Lady Knights was the fact they were accessed three yellow cards in the second half.
   "We stress to play the ball in the air with a fair aggressiveness," stated Coach Ricker. "I want my girls to play hard, but fair and the cards could have went either way."
   The Lady Knights closed out the scoring in the final three minutes of play as Keisha Price became the fourth player to score for Chuckey-Doak.
   "It's not like we don't know how to play," quipped McClay. "We just don't finish out what we start."
   With the win, the Lady Knights run their season standings to 3-1 with the lone loss coming to UH. The Lady Cyclones record falls to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
   Elizabethton travels to Greeneville on Thursday to take on South Greene at the Soccer Sports Complex at the Greeneville YMCA.