Reynolds pulls

away in second half
By Steve Behr

For the first 40 minuets of Watauga’s game with A.C. Reynolds, the Pioneers showed they could play with the Rockets.

In the last 40 minutes, Reynolds showed why they are on top of the Northwestern 4-A Confer-ence standings. Rey-nolds scored four goals in the second half to erase a 1-0 deficit and beat Watauga 4-1 at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex.

Watauga (3-8-3, 3-3-1 NWC) scored the first goal of the game when Kendall Baird slipped the ball into the Rockets’ net with 17:05 left in the first half.

That lead would last for the rest of the first half, though Reynolds (11-2-1, 7-0) had two near-misses, one that saw a shot hit off the left goalpost. But it would not take long for the Rockets to tie the game up in the second half when Kat Lenhart took a pass from Shivan Levine to her left and kicked it with her left foot past Watauga keeper Katherine Mayhew to tie the game 1-1.

It was the first of two goals for Lenhart, who added a goal off an assist from Shannon Pearson in the extra time period to close out the Rockets’ scoring. Lenhart’s sister, Shenny Lenhart, scored the Rockets’ other two goals, one on a rebound with 23:15 left in the game and another with 7:30 remaining, which put Reynolds in front 3-1.

“We’re a much better team than that,” Watauga coach Johnny Gailes said of the second half collapse. “We proved what we could do in the first half. We let our guard down.”

Reynolds, which controlled play for most of the second half, outshot Watauga 22-4 the entire game. Watauga played evenly with A.C. Reynolds for most of the first half, but the Rockets picked up their game toward the end and carried it over into the second.

The Pioneers get a chance to get back to their winning ways when they play Friday at East Burke, a team they beat 9-0 earlier this year.

East Burke (1-12-0, 1-6) has beaten just one NWC team, South Caldwell. The Pioneers finish their regular season at home next Tuesday against Alexander Central (10-4-1, 3-3-0).