The final score of the George Wythe and Carroll County Girls Varsity Soccer ⚽️ was 1-1 but the story within the story is that the match was help on the Pitch at Tommy Thompson Field Wednesday night.

The incredible upgrade to the facility is still waiting for the final nuts and bolts 🔩 so the crowd was all on the visitors side but it was a HOME game for the Lady Cavaliers!

Carroll County (4-2-1) traded possessions with the Maroons for the opening 40 minutes. Each team just missed on an early look as GWHS hit the cross bar at 31:37 and Callie Harris recorded a shot on goal four minutes later.

Harris found Ahliyah Riffey streaking down the middle and the Senior found the back of the net with 2:54 remaining in the first half. CCHS took the 1-0 advantage into the break.

Keeper Alexis Sheffey was the star 🌟 of the show in the opening minutes of the second half as the Maroons turned up the pressure in search of the equalizer.

After coming up with a number of saves on point blank shots, George Wythe finally found a way to sneak one in at 29:47. Reese Patton tied the match during a flurry of movement in a crowded box.

Carroll County regained control over the final 15 minutes and came up just short of the winning goal. At 13:22 Junior Savannah Swecker fired a shot on goal and the team held the upper hand from there. Harris looked like Mia Hamm ( photo below) when she struck a direct kick from 30 yards out inside of the final 2:00 of regulation.

The shot was perfectly struck and appeared to go in, with many in the crowd believing it had, but dropped just over the cross bar.

Harris and Swecker teamed up for the most exciting play in the two five minute overtime periods. Harris threaded a pass to Swecker who raced through the line of defenders but the pass was just a fraction too long.

The final horn sounded and the large crowd headed home after watching two teams play hard for 90 minutes.

Head  Coach Adrienne Harris took the time to acknowledge both the crowd and the effort she received from her team.

” We also had an awesome turnout for our first home game!!! It was so great to see the bleachers full of people supporting us!! We definitely could hear the crowd throughout the game!!”

” Tonight was a  hard fought game for 90 minutes. The girls played well and tough against the physical and experienced George Wythe team who has 10 seniors. In the first half Ahliyah Riffey found the back of the net off of a rebound from the goalkeeper. Callie Harris took a shot from well outside of the 18 yard box and the goalie gave up a rebound. Ahliyah Riffey did a great job of following the ball all the way in which allowed her to finish the rebound from the goalie with a pass into the back of the net!! The team battled and a handful of chances that were very close to putting us up one but George Wythe also had some very close chances as well. Overall, I feel like the girls battled and fought hard for 90 minutes and we were able to get a point added to our record with the tie. Now we move on to Patrick County tomorrow!!”

George Wythe Co-Ed Junior Varsity edged Carroll County 1-0 in the opening game of the night.

Both of the Girls teams will be heading over to Patrick County Thursday night to face the Cougars

I consider Coach Kinney a Brave, Brave Soul as her and Varsity Girls Head Coach, Adrienne Harris wandered The Hill in search of Student Athletes that might be willing to give Soccer ⚽️ a try.

The Lady Cavaliers took the Pitch at Tommy Thompson Field for the first time this season and they overachieved by a wide margin. The final score will reflect that they lost to George Wythe 1-0 but its worth noting that GW has a Co-Ed Junior Varsity team.

I had the pleassure of sharing the Press Box with former Kevin Burress Humanitarian of the Year, Ben Tickle and we were both AMAZED as to the fearless manner that our younger Cavs performed. Color us both highly impressed !

I asked Coach to please share with me three things that made her smile :

Three things that made me smile:

1. Sherlyn’s aggressiveness on attacking the goal/shooting.
2. Baya, Bibi, Aayliah, and Dezirae holding down our midfield.
3. Simply, how amazingly we played against a co-ed team. My girls didn’t back down or give up.

Sherlyn Pedroza hit the post with a shot at 21:52 of the second half, coming inches away from tying the score.

The atmosphere was energetic and I believe it added to the Girls effort but know this, the word for this group is FEARLESS.

The team returns to action 🎬 later today at Patrick County High School 🏫 in Stuart.

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Still haven’t made it home from last night so be patient with regards to the Game Story on the Varsity game. It’s next

Isaiah Easter was named First Team in the Timesland (Roanoke Times) ranking released yesterday morning 🌄 but sadly Carroll County is just outside delivery area for Roanoke.

It was a fun added errand to find a copy and a downright treat to be able to present the copy to both Father & Son.

We were both in Mt.Airy this morning for two different reasons and as Israel stated picture perfectly, God has a way of working things out. The bonus was Kiddo was alongside Dad so the photo works even better.

Thank You to the owner of the Dairy Center for letting us use his place for the photo 📷 op.

Could not be happier for the Easter family!

Other Cavaliers that were honored included :

Anthony Barnes – Coach of the Year

Bryce Smoot – Honorable Mention

Ethan Richardson – Honorable Mention

The full story is available on line at the Roanoke Times!

How many Student Athletes will be competing today while wearing the Cavalier colors ? Will it flirt with being 200 ?

The marketing part of the Brain 🧠 envisions all of them standing in uniform at Tommy Thompson Field for a photo 📷 taken from above by a drone. Add in a chant of ” We Are Carroll County ” .

Should be a fun, fun day and a very busy scoreboard later. The High School calendar 📅 is blank for the next four days so recovery time will be available !