The Lady Cougar soccer team improved its season record to 2-3 Monday evening with a close, 2-1 win over the visiting Hart County Raiders at the Cougar Soccer Stadium.
The young Lady Cougar team got first-half goals from sophomore Gillian Johnston and freshman Ellie Evans and made them stand up for the win.
The Lady Cougars held nearly complete control in the first half, holding the ball in the Raider end of the field, and producing several good chances at goal. Hart County had extended its back line far forward for most of the first half, which allowed the Cougars to get the ball behind them on a number of occasions. Both Johnston and Evans had solo runs on the Raider goal only to be thwarted, either by the recovering defenders or the goal keeper.
The Cougars put a ball in the net in the fifth minute when Evans crossed a ball to Johnston, but the goal was disallowed when the official whistled them for being off side.
Johnston finally broke through with the first goal in the 17th minute to make it 1-0. Then, in the 29th minute, a Johnston shot rebounded to Evans about 15 yards in front of the Hart goal, and her return shot slid past the keeper into the far right corner of the net to make it 2-0.
Despite all the pressure the Cougars had been applying, the Raiders’ Brianna Warnock was able to sneak in a goal in the 37th minute to make it 2-1.
The Cougar had another golden opportunity with less than a minute left in the half when a foul was called just outside the Hart penalty area, giving the home team a free kick from about 25 yards. Senior Temple Strader put a perfect ball inside the eight-yard box, which was kicked around several times before being turned away, and the half ended at 2-1.
Grayson County went into a defensive shell in the second half, allowing the Raiders to possess the ball for much of the second half in the Cougar end of the field. Looking to tie, the Raiders applied steady pressure to the Cougar goal, especially in the last 10 or 15 minutes of play, but junior goalie, Laura Vincent, was able to keep everything out of the net, including a hard, snapping shot from Hart’s Abby Martin well inside the penalty area.
The Lady Cougars are scheduled to travel to McLean County for match at 6 p.m. this afternoon before returning home on Thursday to host district rival Butler County at 5:30 p.m.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
