Titans stop WHS streak
By Steve Behr

Watauga’s girls’ soccer team’s placement in the state 4-A playoffs could come down to one final showdown at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex.

The Pioneers beat South Caldwell 4-0 on Tuesday, but fell to McDowell 3-0 Wednesday, both at Ted Mackorell. That leaves the Pioneers with a 6-4-1 record in the Northwestern 4-A Conference (7-9-3 overall) and waiting to see what the result of Freedom’s game with Alexander Central will be Thursday night.

Should Freedom (5-4-1 NWC, 6-8-5 overall) beat Alexander Central, it would set up a winner-take-third game Friday night at Ted Mackorell. The teams battled to a scoreless tie in Morganton earlier this season.

Watauga stretched its winning streak to four games with its win over South Caldwell (0-11, 1-18). Austin Williamson, Sydney Atkinson and K.D. Henshaw scored a goal each, while Amanda Beasley had one goal and two assists for the Pioneers. Skyler Hicks and Ashlyn Clark both dished out assists for Watauga, which was fresh off its 3-1 victory over Avery the previous Friday.

Things did not go so smoothly against a McDowell team that improved to 16-3-1 overall, 10-2 in the NWC.

The Titans scored two first-half goals, one on a direct kick after a Watauga foul, in the final 16:31 of the half.

McDowell added a third goal midway through the second half and could have had two others had Watauga keeper Katherine Mayhew not made saves on close McDowell shots. Watauga increased its pressure offensively in the second half, but two direct kick attempts did not find the back of the net.

The Pioneers begin the state 4-A playoffs May 13 in a road game, no matter what the result of their showdown with Freedom is.