Amid several games postponed due to bad weather, the Lady Highlanders soccer game tied 1-1 against the Murphy Lady Bulldogs on Tuesday, May 7. One day later Wednesday, May 8, they were able to blank the Tri County Early College Lady Jaguars 6-0.
However, they then lost a 9-4 game to Swain County Thursday, May 9 that landed them the second seed for playoffs rather than the first as they’d hoped.
Tuesday’s game against Murphy had been rescheduled from last week due to rain. The game was fast-paced and both teams were on the offensive attack. Murphy scored first, getting the ball in with 24:52 left on the clock in the first half.
The Lady Highlanders were able to score in the second half, tying the game. Neither team was able to score again, and the game went into double overtime – but neither team was able to definitively come out on top.
“It was a physical game, one that I think we had a chance to win, but we made some selfish individual choices and that cost us,” Coach Caleb Brown said. “That’s something I’m not going to put up with and we dealt with it immediately.”
Brown said the weather “has been a problem” all season – which didn’t cease on Wednesday, as stormy weather in the middle of the afternoon made it questionable whether the game would even go on.
However, as it was the final conference game, Brown and other school officials were determined to play at any cost – the only way they’d cancel was if thunder and lightning were occurring. After waiting an hour to make sure the weather would cooperate, the game against the Lady Jaguars began at 5 p.m.
Players skittered around on a wet field, slick with mud, and occasionally slipped.
The Lady Highlanders kept firmly on the offensive gas. With 37:30 left on the clock in the first half, they scored their first goal. Five minutes later, one Lady Highlander crossed the ball to a teammate closer to the goal, who scored, making the score 2-0 in favor of the Lady Highlanders.
The goals kept coming. With 24:15 left on the clock in the first half, the Lady Jaguars goalie dove to catch the ball, but a Lady Highlander was able to kick the ball in behind her as she was out of reach, making the score 3-0.
Just a minute later, a similar kick from the Lady Highlanders easily cleared the goal, making the score 4-0. Another long, high kick minutes after that got the score to 5-0.
A penalty kick for the Lady Highlanders went long diagonally to the other end of the field, where a Lady Highlander teammate got the ball and delivered a swift kick into the goal, making the score 6-0 for the win.
The game was called for the Highlanders at halftime due to weather.
Thursday’s game against Swain to break their tied scores from this season led to a Swain win, though both teams will head to the state playoffs.
“I know our girls are looking forward to the playoffs starting and games just becoming that much more important,” Brown said.
Senior night
After the game, Brown celebrated graduating seniors Olivia Cole and Mackenzie Woods, who have both been on the Lady Highlanders team all four years at Highlands School.
He said Cole came in early in her freshman year and “was trying to figure out where she wanted to play on the field, and where she wanted to play on the team, and she fell into the role of goalkeeper.”
“And she excelled at it. She’s played every year, and she’s just gotten more and more aggressive, and she’s become a better goalkeeper, she’s a great team leader and a great motivator,” he said, adding that she was a great student in class and “a really great kid” all around.
On Woods, Brown said she was “a really, really special student athlete.”
“Kenzie plays in a position where she doesn’t get all the glory of scoring goals at the end of the game,” Brown said. “That’s what every player wants, at the end of their four years they want to see how many goals they scored.”
Brown said Woods’ position was “vitally important” anyway.
“Kenzie is the failsafe for the entire team, she keeps the team from getting scored on,” he said. “She is the scapegoat that saves us. If the ball goes through the backline, and the other team is about to score, you can always count on Kenzie to make a 40-yard dash across the field and stop the ball from going in, and I think that takes a lot of grit and determination.”
When asked about their favorite memory of playing soccer at Highlands School, both girls said the same thing: “Lady Devils.” They were referring to a time a few years ago when the team bested the Swain County Lady Devils team on their own turf.
Highlands season came to an end on Monday night with a 4-0 loss to Draugn High School in the first round of the NC High School Athletic Association 1-A state playoffs.
Highlands finished the season with a 12-6-1 overall record.