Lady Admirals make good use of 2nd-half shots, beat HVA 4-2

After getting off to a sluggish start, Farragut High School’s girls soccer team has won four consecutive games. The Lady Admirals notched their latest victory in their home opener against rival Hardin Valley Academy Thursday, Sept. 7.

FHS scored three unanswered goals and nabbed a 4-2 victory over the Lady Hawks at Farragut Soccer Stadium.

It was the first home victory for new head coach Drew Payne. The Lady Admirals [4-5 overall, 2-0 in District 4-AAA entering the week] have won four games after losing their first five games of the season.

Farragut scored first against HVA [3-4, 1-1] when senior Elise Stepp tallied in the 21st minute.

The Lady Hawks then took control for a time. Sophomore defender Karly Livingston tied the game when she scored in the 31st minute.

HVA took a 2-1 lead on a goal by Gwen Breslin, one of Knox County’s top scorers.

But the Lady Hawks’ joy was short-lived as Farragut would knot the game at 2-2 on a marker by Emily Guigou in the 39th minute.

Lady Hawks head coach Nick Bradford couldn’t fault his squad’s effort, but noted the game-tying goal by Guigou was tough to take.

“Our effort was there,” Bradford said. “Our kids played hard but it was really disappointing for us to give up that goal and let them tie it up right before halftime.

“Our girls played really hard but we had some lapses in positional awareness at times, and I really felt like Farragut was the better team tonight,” he added.

The Lady Ads were definitely the better side in the second half — at least according to the scoreboard.

FHS had just three shots that landed on target after halftime, but two of those landed in the back of the Hardin Valley net. Guigou gave the Lady Admirals a 3-2 advantage when she scored her second goal of the match in the 63rd minute.

Lady Hawks goalkeeper Taylor Mauch stopped Guigou’s first scoring chance. The ball, however, bounced off Mauch’s fingertips and a waiting Guigou promptly banged it into the back of the net.

Guigou said the win over HVA was huge. “I couldn’t have scored those goals without my teammates and this was a big win for us,” she said. “We started out kind of rough but we’ve pulled it together.

“We just came back in here and decided that we wanted to play together as a team.”

Conversely, Breslin said, “This just wasn’t a very good game for us. Overall, it was a bad game but it’s just another chance for us to improve.”

Eryn Hill’s insurance goal in the 66th minute provided the final margin.

Payne said he was pleased with his seniors in the victory.

“We had good senior leadership out there tonight,” Payne said. “Our work rate was good but as a coach, this game was difficult for me. If I had my way, we would control the game.

“This game was chaos. Sometimes, you have chaos and sometimes, you have controlled chaos. Sometimes, when the nerves get to you, you rely on your work rate to win the game.”