On Tuesday, October 8th, the combined WCHS/CHS/FHHS girls soccer team hosted Marshall County for their last regular season game. The game started off with Marshall County controlling the game, putting pressure on Wayne County, and holding the ball in the Wayne County half. To their dismay, the first time Wayne County got the ball in their end, mid-fielder Cadence Thompson got a pass to left striker Celia Powell, who broke free of the defense and blasted a left-footed shot low past the Marshall goalie. Again Marshall County put pressure on Wayne County, and with about 8 minutes left, Wayne County again got the ball deep in Marshall County territory, with right striker Macayla Pollard getting the ball across the middle to a breaking Celia. Her blast got past the goalie for her second goal. Half-time score was 2-0 Wayne County. Just one minute into the second half, Marshall County came back when a girl got the ball outside on the right, got past several defenders down the sideline, dribbled along the end line, and got a pass to an open teammate in front of the goal. For the next almost 30 minutes, Marshall continued to put pressure on the Wayne County defense, which held thru some scary moments. With 10 minutes left, attacking midfielder Brylee Harris was fed a thru ball from Celia, shooting into the corner of the goal. Only 2 minutes later, Celia fed Brylee again for Wayne County’s 4th goal. With 4 minutes left in the game, Marshall County got a cross to a girl’s head in front of the Wayne County goal, who redirected it into the net. That ended the game’s scoring, with Wayne County earning the 4-2 win. The defense absorbed a huge amount of pressure during this game, with goalie Abby Pearson’s 7 saves a big part of the win.
On Thursday, October 10th, the team traveled to Adamsville for their first post-season tournament game against the top team in the district. Adamsville took the kickoff down the right side and took a long outside shot which went over Abby’s hands into the back corner of the Wayne County goal. For most of the rest of the half, Adamsville had the ball in the Wayne County half, scoring 3 more widely spaced goals in spite of tenacious defending by Wayne County. Adamsville scored 3 more goals fairly early in the second half, upping their lead to 7-0. Just past the middle of the half, Brylee got the ball down the left side of the field to the Adamsville end line, where she passed a perfect pass to Celia in front of the goal. Celia took one touch to control the ball; her second was a shot past the defender and goalie into the net. Adamsville scored 3 more goals later in the half to win 10-1. This loss concluded the team’s 2019 season.
They ended up with a record of 4 wins, 8 losses, and 1 tie; a record about twice as good as last year’s (with only 2 wins). They scored 32 goals (more than twice last year’s total) and gave up 61 (much better than last year’s 91). They finished the season much improved, ending the regular season games with a tie and two wins. Top scorer was Brylee Harris, with 16 goals and 6 assists. A close second was Celia Powell, with 12 goals and 5 assists. Zoe Murrey got 2 goals and 2 assists, Macayla Pollard got a goal and 4 assists, Tiffany Winger got a goal and 2 assists while playing mostly defense, Cadence Thompson got 2 assists, and Jane Marie Franks got 1 assist.
They will miss their five seniors: defender Katie Hargrove, attacking midfielder Brylee Harris, goalie Abby Pearson, midfielder Kayonna Russell, and sweeper/midfielder Tiffany Winger. The five have contributed a huge amount to the team over the years that they have played. This year’s juniors (Autumn Harrison, Zoe Murrey, and Macayla Pollard) and sophomores (Lillie Runions, Cadence Thompson, and Savannah Kriner) will have big leadership shoes to fill. The freshmen (Jane Marie Franks, Jazmyn Hall, Kyla Overton, and Celia Powell) stepped up to high school level soccer really quickly, and were major contributors to the team’s successes this year.
The team and Coach Harvey Baker wish to thank the Wayne County School System, the three high schools and their staffs, the City of Waynesboro, the parents, friends, and local merchants for their support of the team. The team has played hard no matter the score in the game, and has done its best to represent Wayne County in a way that we can all be proud of.—–Submitted
CUTLINE
Front row L-R: Celia Powell, Jane Marie Franks, Autumn Harrison, Cadence Thompson, Kayonna Russell, Macayla Pollard. Back row: Tiffany Winger, Zoe Murrey, Savannah Kriner, Katie Hargrove, Abby Pearson, Jazmyn Hall, Lillie Runions, Brylee Harris, Katelyn Swearengin. Not pictured: Kyla Overton, Lacey Lay.
