Despite stellar defense, solid goalkeeping, Lady Admirals soccer falls at Powell 1-0
POWELL — Farragut High School’s girls soccer team played some stellar defense and got some solid goalkeeping from sophomore Caroline Ekern, but came up on the short end of a tough loss late last week.
The Lady Admirals dropped a 1-0 decision on the road to Powell Thursday, Sept. 5.
FHS, which has one of its youngest teams in recent memory, came in with a defensive game plan in hopes of leaving North Knox County with a victory over the defending District 3-AAA champions Lady Panthers and standout goalkeeper Emaleigh Marshburn.
The Lady Admirals (2-2-1) had some limited chances but Marshburn, also a sophomore, made the saves she had to make to keep Farragut at bay and off the scoreboard.
“I can’t fault our effort. We played a great defensive game and Caroline faced some shots that came in right at her chest,” Farragut third-year head coach Drew Payne said. “Caroline had one big save and it was a tremendous save, but she didn’t face a lot of big shots.
“And the reason that those shots were off target was because of our defense.”
The Lady Panthers (5-2) scored the lone marker of the match when freshman forward Annabel Reiche tallied in the 17th minute.
The Lady Admirals picked up most of their scoring opportunities on the counter attack.
“We actually had some chances and we had to manufacture them off the counter attack,” Payne said. “We got some that came off of crosses and some that didn’t.”
Farragut had a golden opportunity just after halftime when sophomore Ashton Wright crossed the ball to Madilyn Stark, whose shot was stopped by Marshburn.
A shot from Wright hit the goalpost in the 78th minute, as Powell beat the Lady Ads for the first time in recent memory.
“We’ve got to figure out how to finish,” Payne said.
