Howard earns 4th straight clean sheet with win over Tri-County
Murphy – In their second meeting of the season, the Lady Dogs defeated the Tri-County Early College girls soccer team.
In their first game back from spring break, Murphy took to the pitch to face on with their in-county rivals and got the win on April 16.
Deserae Zenobi got the scoring started for the Dogs with a goal just over three minutes into the match. After running down the right side of the pitch, she buried it past Tri-County goalkeeper Emma Smith.
Zenobi’s goal was their lone goal in the first half despite dominating possession of the ball and having multiple scoring chances.
The Dogs came out in the second half and found the back of the net multiple times. With 27:16 left in the second half, Tina Bui found the net on a rebound to give the Dogs a 2-0 lead.
About five minutes later, Halie Hill scored her first of the game when she put the ball in the upper corner despite Smith getting a hand on it.
With 10:31 left, Hill scored her second goal on the match when she put a ball on the ground and into the net, giving the Dogs a 4-0 lead. With just over a minute left in the match, Hill netted her hat-trick goal on a free kick to make it 5-0.
Hill led the team in steals with 11. Bui, Isabel Parker and Faith Lesacalleet had seven steals each.
Ella Howard earned the clean sheet win and faced zero shots on goal from Tri-County. This was her sixth shutout of the season.
With the 5-0 win over Tri-County, the Dogs earned their fourth straight Smoky Mountain Conference win to move to 7-1 in the conference and closer to conference-leading Swain County.
On Friday, their four-game win steak came to an end at the hands of a tough Polk County squad.
The Dogs fell 4-0 to the No. 4 ranked team in 1A West in North Carolina.
They will continue conference play on at 4 p.m. Thursday on the road against Hayesville. In their last meeting, they defeated the Yellow Jackets 9-0.
They will travel to Cashiers to take on Summit Charter at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 29.