For an evening, Tommy Thompson Field felt and sounded like a legitimate Soccer ⚽️ Pitch as Carroll County hosted a Varsity doubleheader. The Girls played the opener and they whitewashed Martinsville 5-0 and the Boys capped the night with a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Cougars of Pulaski County.
The gate was sponsored by Ches Helmick of Edward Jones in Independence, Virginia and the weather was picture perfect from start to finish. The atmosphere on The Hill was beyond electric, having former players asking out loud, where was this when I was playing ?
Carroll County Girls (10-5-2) established a team record by recording their ninth shutout on the season. Keeper Alexis Sheffey came close to having the night off as the Lady Cavaliers offense was in overdrive against the Bulldogs.
Callie Harris opened the scoring at 31:05 but the Bulldogs settled in for the next 19 minutes. Savannah Swecker doubled the lead with a goal at 12:05 remaining.
Karmen Smith, one of the Seniors who were playing their final match on The Hill, played a very active match. With 6:19 left in the first half, Smith found Harris with a touch pass and the Junior put the biscuit in the basket 🧺 to make it 3-0.
The first of the two halftime interviews with Helmick was both entertaining and informative. The highlight of the ten minutes came when Helmick let out a Goooooooooooal that might have been heard by drivers out on I-77. Marion Harris received a fair amount of praise from the Match host and before you knew it, it was time to play the second half.
With just over 21 minutes left to play it was time for another CARROLL COUNTY CORNER and Harris placed the ball in the perfect place and Swecker punched in her second goal of the match.
Senior Maiya Caudill found the back of the net after corraling a feed from Sydney Bomberger, creating the final score of 5-0. Head Coach Adrienne Harris was able to created a special moment over the final 5:12 of the match as she had all seven of her Seniors on the pitch for the remainder of the contest.
Forrest Johnson and Jeremy Puckett sent their 11 out at 7:36 First Touch. The Cavaliers and the Cougars played a physical match earlier in the year that ended in a Cougar 3-2 victory.
The physical aspect was very noticeable from the get go and the teams remained knotted at 0-0 heading into the break. Landon Puckett clanked a shot off the post at 17:50.
The second halftime conversation included Corey Williams, along with Helmick. The follow up conversation was equal to its opening act.
40:00 minutes went back on the clock and the neighbors went right back at each other. The deeper the teams ventured into the second half, the louder the fans from both teams became. At 37:38 of the second half, Giovanni Lopez corralled a corner, found the back of the net and the home crowd found another gear ⚙.
Christian Hernandez was once again playing lights out in the net but 2:13 later Sammy Carrasco and Alexander Flores teamed up for a goal that Tim Howard would not have been able to stop. The next 23 minutes were as intense as can be and the match appeared to be heading towards overtime until Hez Mejia said not so fast.
The Sophomore got a great look at 13:15 and then 39 seconds later, Mejia sent the crowd to the edge of hysteria. Carroll County had the lead back at 2-1 and Hernandez and Company took care of the rest of the clock.
Johnson and his Cavaliers closed out the regular season in the same manner as the Lady Cavaliers, winning two straight while playing three straight nights.
Both teams will now await word on their Regional tournament seedings. Harris will be opening up on the road while Johnson is clinging to a hope of hosting a playoff match next week.
19-11-4 with four of the setbacks came at the feet of the Glenvar Highlanders. Both of these Varsity squads are in an upward projectory and they break through the glass ceiling one day, they might look back at May 21st as the Red Letter Day in Carroll County Soccer ⚽️ history !
A.S.P.N on The Hill 