Scotland girls soccer scores first goal but falls to Southern Lee

LAURINBURG —The Scotland girls soccer team was defeated by the visiting Southern Lee Cavaliers in an 8-1 final on Tuesday night at Scotland High School. The Scots fall to 0-8 (0-8 in conference games) on the season with the loss while Southern Lee improves to 11-2 (5-2 against conference opponents) with their fourth straight win. The Cavaliers have swept the regular season series from Scotland, having also taken the first matchup in Sanford back on March 7 by a score of 9-0.

Southern Lee would get the first goal of the game after nearly 10.5 minutes had passed at the 29:32 mark of the first half. Scotland would respond immediately (28:59) with Marley Ward stealing the ball deep in Cavaliers territory and scoring into a wide open net to tie the game at one.

It was the Scots’ first goal scored of the season and Ward’s first of her career, according to MaxPreps. Southern Lee would take the lead back shortly after with another tally at the 23:33 mark.

Head Coach Jeremy White was very pleased with how the first half went for the Scots. Between Ward’s goal and terrific goaltending from Addison Anderson, Scotland was able to keep things within striking distance for much of the game and have some serious momentum heading into the break.

“The first half was our best half of soccer we’ve played all year,” White said. “Great job for Marley getting that goal, that really gave a shot of energy through the whole team.”

Scotland unfortunately wasn’t able to carry the momentum over into the second 40 minutes as the Cavaliers would score six goals in the second half to turn what once was a closely contested game into a comfortable Southern Lee win. The goals for the Cavaliers in the second half came at the 37:26, 33:02, 25:33, 23:40, 22:10 and 20:13 marks.

White thought that the intensity the Scots came out of the break with was good and replicated a lot of what went right in the first 40 minutes. That said, he also admitted that once Southern Lee expanded their lead that the attention to detail died down a little bit and the Scots weren’t able to stop an avalanche of goals once the momentum shifted.

“Second half we come out with that same energy,” White said. “We gave up a goal and then we kind of hit a lull where we weren’t as focused and as determined.”

The Scots will now have their next three games on the road, starting on Friday night in Cameron against Union Pines at 6 p.m. The road trip also includes games against Pinecrest and Richmond.

White is well aware of the challenges that present the Scots in their upcoming games. For the time being, he is focused on taking it one game at a time and giving the Vikings a hard fought contest for all 80 minutes, which he believes the Scots are capable of.

“They’re a daunting three games,” White said. “We’re looking to take momentum with us, we’re not going to try to exceed our own expectations. We’re just going to play hard, stick into the fight and carry the game the entire 80 minutes just like we did tonight.”