Attacking offense
Pioneers’ pressure

provides victory
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Macy Johnson’s goal, Watauga’s first of its 3-0 victory over Davie County in the first round of the state 4-A girls’ soccer playoffs, served two purposes.

First and foremost, it gave the Pioneers a 1-0 lead 10 minutes into the game, played at Jack Groce Stadium Wednesday night. Secondly, it gave Watauga a wake-up call.

Johnson took a long pass and then moved about 25 yards with the ball with the Davie County defense trailing.

Johnson took her shot about 10 yards in front of the Vikings’ net with three defenders surrounding her.

“Basically, I was told that their defenders were really good,” Johnson said. “I knew that if I could beat them with my speed, I could probably get in and so I decided to go with my speed, cut around the corner and I got the ball in front of me and I saw an opening.”

“We heard that Davie County was pretty organized defensively and that they could really frustrate you,” Pioneers coach Doug Kidd said. “They were organized and they were playing a flatback-four (defense) and an offside trap. They fell asleep on it one time and Macy did a great job collecting it and reading it and taking it all the way in and finishing.”

It was the first of two goals scored by the Pioneers (13-8-4) in the first half. Just six minutes later, Anna Lisa Hart took a pass from Jodi Krause and belted it past Davie County keeper Michelle Phillips, giving the Pioneers a 2-0 lead they would take into halftime.

That lead was almost increased by one goal, but a header taken by Ashlyn Clark off a corner kick from Lucy Binning hit the crossbar of the goal and bounced out. Krause also just missed a goal off a corner kick, keeping the Pioneers’ first-half goal total to two.

“I thought we controlled play totally in the first half,” Kidd said. “We generated lots of great scoring opportunities. We hit one off the post there and their keeper made some great saves, but I was really pleased with how we executed in the first half.”

Davie County (6-8-1), the fifth-place team out of the Central Piedmont Conference, had a chance at a goal in the second half, but Katie Gerdon’s direct kick from around 30 yards away sailed over the Watauga goal. The Vikings didn’t get many chances to attack the Watauga goal since the Pioneers controlled the ball, in Davie County territory, for much of the game.

Watauga, which has posted 14 shutouts this season, has shut out nine of its last 10 opponents, going 7-1-2 during that stretch. The game Watauga lost during that time was a 1-0 setback to Asheville.

“Our attack did take a lot of pressure off our defense,” Kidd said. “I thought it was pretty solid in the first half. The second half, we were a little unorganized at times, but we got the shutout, so we did limit their opportunities.”

The Pioneers delivered thier knockout punch with 4:15 left in the game when Krause scored in a crowd from the right side, giving Watauga a 3-0 lead.

Watauga faces a familiar opponent in the second round when the Pioneers play at East Forsyth Friday night. Watauga lost to East Forsyth 1-0 in the Pioneers’ first game of the season.

Kidd said the Pioneers have improved since then.

“I’m looking for a stern test from them,” Kidd said. “They beat us 1-0. They’re an outstanding team. They won the Metro 4-A Conference. But we’re a much improved team. It was our first game and I think we’re better. We’ll need to play a great game and I think we’re capable of doing that.”

Kidd also feels that getting an early win helps the Pioneers’ confidence going into Friday’s game.

“You get one underneath your belt and you get a little confidence,” he said. “You play a good team, you get more confidence and you can go at them.”