Murphy – It may still show up as a loss like the first time Murphy played Swain County this season, but there were still positives to take away from Thursday night’s game for the Lady Bulldogs.
After the Lady Devils demolished Murphy 10-2 on March 24, the deficit this time was only 3-1.
“I told them they should be proud of themselves,” head coach Little Holloway said. “And be encouraged, and that should push them and make them practice super hard.”
While it was a more competitive game than the last match, it wasn’t a linear path to get there. To start, both teams were missing key players. For Swain County (9-2-1 overall, 6-1 Smoky Mountain Conference), striker Kaylee Simmons was not with the team, and she torched the Lady Bulldogs for four goals and two assists in the first matchup. That meant Swain lacked its usual 1-2 presence of Simmons and fellow senior Mazie Helpman in the final third.
For Murphy (5-6, 4-3), goalie Cali Rumfelt was unable to play, and junior Lochlan Rogers stepped in to play goalie. Holloway said Rogers volunteered to play, and put in work before and after practice and the game to try to prepare. To take some pressure off her, junior Catalina Barreiro slid back to defense for this game after playing midfield for much of the season.
“Cali has been sick all week so Lochlan told me she wanted to step up and try goalie,” Holloway said. “So I said let’s go for it. I know she had good reaction time, good eye-hand coordination so we practiced yesterday and she came early today.”
The four goals scored in the game also weren’t ones you usually see in soccer, either. Both teams had their opportunities in the early parts of the first half, but Swain County got a golden opportunity when Emma Ledford was called for a questionable foul on Karena Cline in the box. Cline converted the penalty kick.
After getting some good runs in the final minutes in the first and early part of the second half, Swain County doubled the lead in the 56th minute thanks to a Murphy own goal. The Lady Bulldogs tried to clear out the ball off a corner kick, but the ball was sent back in and Ledford headed the ball into the air – only to watch it bounce over Rogers’ head.
Three minutes later, Barreiro got Murphy on the board from 20 yards out to cut the lead to 2-1, which Holloway said was her “most beautiful goal of the year.”
Murphy tried to push for the equalizer, but never really got a good run. In the 74th minute, Cline kicked the ball from 15 yards out into the top center of the net, a dagger with six minutes remaining.
The Lady Bulldogs have two games remaining this season. They played Cherokee on Monday, the results of which were not available until after this week’s edition of the Cherokee Scout went to press. Murphy travels to Blue Ridge on Thursday, then hosts Highlands for Senior Night on Monday.