Lady Ads hold off Maryville in regular-season finale
In the last two weeks, the Farragut girls soccer team has experienced a key shift. And it took one film review for that movement to happen.
Looking back through her team’s 3-0 loss to Bearden on Thursday, Sept. 24, Farragut soccer coach Jessica Burkhart said she noticed more about her own team’s struggles than anything the Lady Bulldogs did right.
“So we had to have an inner look at who we are and what we do — and we didn’t do those things,” Burkhart said. “We had to come together and figure that out and recenter ourselves, and the girls did that.”
The result was a 1-0 victory over Maryville last Tuesday, Sept. 29, as Farragut wrapped its regular-season with a key region road win.
A timely goal from Ava Upshaw and a key save from Emery Wylie marked the difference in the victory.
Upshaw found the net after a series of close misses from FHS, as Meghan Shimall fired a cross that Upshaw buried less than 10 minutes into the second half.
“Ava and Shim (Meghan Shimall), they’re deadly on the wing,” Burkhart said. “That’s something that’s been a staple that we’ve had, and Ava had some opportunities in the first half, too. It’s just a matter of how long could they keep her out of the net. She buried that one, and it was a great run and ball across by Shim and a great finish by Ava. I don’t know of a keeper that can stop that.”
Fortunately for Farragut, the Lady Admirals’ own keeper made a great stop of her own to supplement the effort.
With Maryville pushing for a potential equaizer, Wylie dove and extended her arms to prevent a score with 7:14 to play, thus keeping the Lady Ads ahead en route to a victory.
“I told the team they took care of their business most of the game, and when we needed her to come up with a big play, she did,” Burkhart said of Wylie. “We needed that and she came up real big for us. Coming on the road here to pull out a win against a team that’s riding high, that’s props to our kids for being up for that challenge.”
The next challenge awaits with the postseason, which begins Saturday, Oct. 10.
Farragut will welcome Maryville for a rematch in the district quarterfinals while Lenoir City and Hardin Valley Academy will face off the same day.
Whoever wins the quarterfinal match between Farragut and Maryville will go to Bearden for the semifinals on Tuesday, Oct. 13, and the winner of LCHS and HVA will visit West the same day.
BHS leads the district standings while HVA sits in third with Farragut in fourth.
Since the Lady Bulldogs had yet to face Lenoir City in their own regular-season finale last Tuesday, Burkhart’s group not know how the postseason would stack up.
Even so, the Lady Ads handled their business and will look to do the same this week.
“We can only control what we can control,” Burkhart said. “We knew we had to come out and win this game, and that’s what we did. Everyone else has to fight it out and sort it out. I’m hoping we get a break to get some film in, get our legs back under us and get ready for the tournament.
“This district is one of the hardest in the state, and if you’re going to make it through, you’ve got to be healthy. So we’ve done everything we can do; our focus now is on us and how we can get healthy and be prepared.”
