It was rivalry week for the Murphy women’s soccer squad as they faced Swain County and Highlands. After falling to Swain, the Lady Dogs got back on track with a shutout win over Highlands.
In their first of two games last week, the Lady Dogs hosted rivals Swain County on March 24. Murphy suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss in extra time.
The first half was back and forth with Murphy having a slight advantage in possession of the ball. Both teams had scoring chances in the opening 40 minutes, but neither could break through and find the back of the net.
The first goal of the match came in the second half. Swain was awarded a free kick and caught the Lady Dogs off guard. Before Murphy could get setup, Swain acted fast and found the back of the net from just above the top of the goalkeepers’ box.
Swain took the lead with 12:40 remaining in the second half.
After only a few minutes, Lady Bulldog Halie Hill took a shot from just outside the top of the box that went upper 90 past the keeper’s outstretched glove to tie the match at 1-1.
Murphy fans went wild as Hill scored the equalizer, and the student section even shot off confetti.
Both teams made a late push, but the match stayed 1-1 after 80 minutes of regulation. Since it is a conference match, the game went to two 10-minute overtime halves.
Almost halfway through the first extra time half, Swain took a corner kick. The kick was placed perfectly in the middle of the box and found a Lady Maroon Devil, who headed the ball into the net.
With 5:48 left in the first extra time half, Swain led 2-1. Murphy pushed hard through the remaining minutes of the first extra time half and during the second half, but they couldn’t break through to tie it or take the lead.
Tina Bui led the team in steals against Swain with 10. Hill had eight steals, while Faith Lescalleet had six. Isabel Parker, Tyra Nelson and Kaydence Walton had five steals each.
Lady Bulldogs goalkeeper Ella Howard made seven saves on nine shots.
On Thursday, the Lady Dogs faced another rival as they traveled to take on Highlands. For the first time since 2018, the Lady Dogs defeated Highlands, shutting out the Highlands 4-0 on Thursday.
The Lady Dogs netted three goals in the first half and one in the second half en route to stopping Highlands.
Howard made five saves in her clean sheet performance in net. Two of the Lady Dogs’ goals were scored by Hill, as well as one goal each from Ledford and Beebe.
Addison Peterson had an assist. Hill led the team with 16 steals. Bui and Nelson had 11 steals each. Parker was also in double-digit steals with 10.
The Lady Dogs will take on Cherokee at 6:30 p.m. today. They will face in-county rivals Tri-County Early College at 6 p.m. Thursday at Murphy High School.