On Monday the Lady Blazers traveled back to TCN for the first round of sectional tournament action. After just playing them the previous week, we knew going into this game it was going to be physical and a fun game to watch. Lillian Cordle put Trail on the board first and we held the 1-0 lead going into the half.
Freshman Taylor Reynolds again showed off her amazing athletic ability with some incredible saves at goal. She ended the game with 13 totals saves and only allowing 1 goal. Two of her saves even some of the most experienced goalies couldn't pull off. She came out of the goal to attack the ball ended up tipping the shot into the air and recovered the ball right at the goal line to keep the Panthers from scoring. Her strong defensive line rallied around her the whole game again consisting of Senior Taryn Rucci, Junior Ollie Mason and Freshman Kenzie Harper, these three have proven how well they work together and last night it was really show cased. We dropped back other players during the game to help protect our goal and they made some big plays for the team. Seniors Josie Stiner and Megan Irvin and Sophomore Lillian Cordle helped control their attacking players and made them work for every shot they took.
Many players were moved around this game to keep TCN on their toes. Megan, Hannah, Belle, Lillian, Olivia, Josie, Bre and Maria all had attempts on goal. Freshmen Rae Brodie and Brooklynn Holsapple played one of their best games this season at Mid field preventing the Panthers from going on the attack.
The Panthers evened up the score quickly after the start of the second half, and that is where the game stayed until the end of regulation sending us into overtime and sudden death. Having never faced sudden death the Lady Blazers were up to the challenge controlling the ball for most the OT. With just over 5 minutes off the clock we were awarded a corner kick and again Senior Megan Irvin and Sophomore Lillian Cordle connected. Megan placed a beautiful ball right at Lillians feet in front of the goal, and Lill took the rest from there. The goalie attempted to make a play on the ball, but Lillian got a second touch on the ball before the keeper could get her hands on it sending it into the back of the net for the win. This is the first ever Sectional tournament win for National Trail Soccer, and it could not have happened to a better group of ladies. We will move onto District Quarter-Finals on Thursday traveling to Anna for a 5 pm game. We are looking forward to keeping this comeback season alive.
