GALLATIN – The Gallatin sideline looked more like a MASH unit than a girl’s soccer team at the end of Thursday night’s District 9-AAA contest with cross-town rival Beech, and the Lady Buccaneers took full advantage of the situation by posting a 5-1 win over the Lady Green Wave.

“Coming into tonight’s game we were already without Grace (Puryear), who plays center midfield, and Lizzy Bangean, who is one of the Lady Wave’s leading scorers, is coming off an ankle injury and is at best 70 percent, so when Jenna Ashby went down in the first half with a contusion to her shin, and then again the second half with an ankle injury we were hurting as a team,” said Gallatin Coach Greg Harper.

“Injuries are something we’ve had to deal with most of the season, so I know they are doing the best they can with what we have, but now we’re right here at the end of the season and we’re just going to have to fight through it and do the best way we can.”
Kiley Sanson and Claire Gregory led the way for the Lady Buccaneers as both scored a pair of goals to help lead them to the win.

“This was a big win for us because it was our last district game, and we knew it was for position,” said Sanson. “Gallatin is always a team that is going to play you tough, and tonight, even when we got up they kept fighting and never gave up. But that’s what we expected, so we knew we were going to have to keep the pressure on all game.”

Beech (11-3-1, 5-2 9-AAA) didn’t waste anytime getting on the board as Lauren Winters lofted a pass from the right corner into the box where Claire Gregory awaited and put the header through for the first goal of the night just 45 seconds into the contest to take a 1-0 lead with 39:15 left in the first half.

The Lady Buccaneers went just over 10 minutes before scoring their next goal and for the second time of the night Winters was able to again pass into the box, from the left corner this time, and Holly Ann Neeley was on the receiving end and put it through for the second goal to make it 2-0 with 29:06 left on the clock.

Three minutes later, Beech was awarded a penalty kick after the Lady Wave was called for a hand ball in the box, and Sanson took the kick and was able to sneak it by Gallatin goalkeeper Katy Burns as the shot was just out of reach, skipping off her hands as she dove in an attempt to block the shot.

Burns wasn’t done however, as she struck again 30 seconds later with 25:30 left on the clock, taking the breakaway at midfield, and beating a defender and putting it through in the left corner to make it 4-0.

“I got a great lead pass and just took it into the box from there,” said Burns. “Once I got it into the box I just picked a corner and was able to knock it through.”

With 7:09 left in the first half the Lady Buccaneers added their last goal of the night when Gregory was able to outmuscle a pair of Lady Wave defenders, and shot cross-goal to put Beech up 5-0.

Gallatin (6-7, 3-3) was finally able to put an offensive run together late in the first half when Kaitlyn Howell weaved between a pair of Beech defenders and put a shot up, but the shot careened off the right post with just under six minutes left in the half.

Two and a half minutes later, Howell’s persistence paid off and she beat a defender and shot cross-goal, putting the shot into the left corner for the Lady Wave’s lone goal of the night.

“This is one of those things where it’s the same story, just a different game where we start slow and get hammered for most of the first half, and then have to fight our way back,” said Harper. “We had a much better second half, but the damage was done in the first 30 minutes of the first half, and it was just too much for us to make up.

“Katy did a great job tonight because she was under fire the entire time, but the way she played in the second half is the way she’s capable of playing the whole game. This is still her first season of competitive soccer, so she’s going to get better each time she’s out there.”

Beech Coach Tim Guinn said he liked the way they played in the first half, but he thought they relaxed a little in the second because of the lead.

“After the way we played against Station Camp and Hendersonville, we thought it was important for us to come out and force the issue tonight,” said Guinn. “We were able to get into a rhythm tonight early on and scored some goals, and that’s the way we’re going to have to play from here on out in the district tournament.”

Gallatin will play its last district contest Thursday against Hendersonville, and then the district tournament will begin Saturday.                                      

by Chris Lynn