Murphy – In an evenly matched game between Murphy and Cherokee girls soccer on April 20, it was a mistake that made the difference.
The Lady Bulldogs had gotten called for a few fouls just outside the box, including one in the 30th minute of the first half for another free kick opportunity. This time, Shelby Solis stepped up and booted the ball into the right side of the net. For the rest of the match, Murphy tried desperately to get a goal, but kept coming up short.
When the clock hit zero, Cherokee walked off the field with a 1-0 win despite the Lady Bulldogs best efforts.
“Cherokee was a nice team, they were excellent,” head coach Kim Brownlee said. “They were very evenly matched the two of us, it was going to come down to a mistake and we’re the ones who made it.”
Murphy (5-5-1 overall, 4-4 Smoky Mountain Conference) looked rusty after ten days off because of spring break. Besides some of the careless fouls that led to the only goal of the game, they didn’t execute certain things that were discussed in practice. Part of that could be attributed to some lineup changes Murphy made due to injury and the coaching staff looking for more punch on offense.
“I had to put a winger inside the middle and a backline player on the frontline, it was a lot of changes tonight,” Brownlee said. “The formations stayed the same, but the personnel changed. I tried to bring it back around the second half to get a better rhythm offensively. We had the better rhythm, we just couldn’t capitalize on it.”
The Lady Bulldogs had plenty of opportunities in the second half, but just couldn’t finish. They got nothing out of two corner kicks in the opening minutes of the second half. Lailee Holloway had the team’s best looks of the second half, putting a free kick high in the 61st minute and then having a shot hit the center of the crossbar one minute later.
Murphy earned back-to-back corner kicks soon after, but once again couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net. The Lady Bulldogs got frustrated with some of the officiating at times as well, with some physical plays by Cherokee (4-5-2, 4-4) that could have been fouls going uncalled. Cat Barreiro and Holloway had some good looks as well as some desperation ones in the waning minutes, but none could get past Lady Braves goalie Loshi Ward.
After a home game against Tri-County Early College (0-7, 0-6) after the Cherokee Scout’s press time Monday, Murphy hosted Blue Ridge (4-6-1, 3-3) for the third in four straight home games. Brownlee wants to see the team continue to work on better passing that they started to hone in on after a 6-2 loss to Highlands on April 18, use passing lanes to help create more opportunities, and protect the ball better when those chances come along.
The goal is to stay at third in the conference, though Murphy did not give themselves a lot of room for error there with the result against Cherokee.
“We’re going to have to do our jobs,” Brownlee said.