Tuscola soccer completes County Clash sweep

May 2-Tuscola girls soccer held on to its second-place spot in the conference while completing its season sweep of cross-county rival Pisgah on Wednesday. The Mountaineers took the 4-1 County Clash win hosted in Canton.

"Our girls played really hard. I'm really proud of their effort. This was fantastic," Tuscola Coach Kyle Brady said.

While Tuscola eventually pulled away over the course of the match, it was the Bears who struck first.

And they struck fast. Just over a minute into the game, sophomore Delaney Pifer dribbled through the defense and tapped one into the net for the opening score of the evening and her 17th of the season.

"One of the game points on the board is just press them early, see if we can get an early lead, and see if we can get them to freeze up and make some mistakes," Pisgah Coach Roddy Alt said.

Mountaineers rebound

But after that goal, the Mountaineers locked in. Within two minutes, freshman Kendzi Epps had the equalizer for Tuscola off of a corner kick.

"I love the poise that our team had, especially our forwards," Brady said. "They just kept playing good quality balls and playing good passes. Pisgah was parking the bus, which made it kind of tough. They did a good job of being creative and finding some passing lanes and creating some shots."

Freshman Gwyneth Schick was the next to add her name to the score sheet. She got on the end of a long pass, tapped it forward with her head, before slotting it past the keeper for a goal.

That was followed by Epps scoring her second goal of the night on a free kick, bringing her season tally to 10 goals.

Alt said that overall, he was happy with Pisgah's performance, but there were a handful of moments that cost them in the long run.

"Out of the good minutes we played, we made a few serious mistakes, and they capitalized on those mistakes," Alt said. "Take those glaring mistakes away, it's a 1-1 match. But I give them credit. They're a good team. They know how to take advantage of mistakes."

The score held at that 3-1 mark going into halftime thanks to some great defensive effort on both ends. The Tuscola backline played lights out, shutting down the majority of Pisgah's scoring chances before they even got to the goalkeeper.

Tuscola outshot Pisgah 18-10, but the more glaring gap was in shots that were on goal. Tuscola had 12 such shots, while Pisgah had just five.

"Our back line played fantastic," Brady said. "Sadie Roten had a fantastic game. Mady Messer just came back off of an injury from the last Pisgah game. She's been working her way back all year, and having her back has been a big help."

For Pisgah, freshman Ellis Pifer made a handful of great saves in net, but was even more important in non-save situations, as she broke up numerous crossing passes.

"She did a tremendous job back there," Alt said. "They have a lot of speed on the outside, so they were able to get crosses in, and she was there to cut those off. She made some really big-time saves there to even keep it as close as it was. She had a big night. I'm really proud of her composure."

Physical second half

In the second half, Tuscola freshman Morgan Epps added one more goal for the Mountaineers on a penalty kick after a handball, but Tuscola was certainly looking for more.

Brady said that exciting, high-scoring soccer is his favorite style of the game.

"I'm very lucky that we have some creative players who love to score goals. I enjoy being part of it," Brady said.

In the second half, the defensive intensity seemed to ramp up on both sides. In total, just shy of 20 fouls were called during the match.

"It's just the County Clash, really," Alt said. "We were playing hard. I didn't see any team really taking cheap shots and playing dirty. But it is a physical match."

Brady was proud to see his team respond well to the physicality.

"We've got a tough group of girls, and the toughness that they showed just shows the grit that they've had all year," Brady said.

The loss drops Pisgah to 5-11-1 overall and 1-10-1 in conference play. It's been a tough season for a young Bears team, but they've seen a lot of improvement over the way.

"I'm really happy with the minutes our team put together and the growth that I've seen over the year. We've had some pretty lopsided losses, but we're getting closer every time we play," Alt said. "It's been a process, and it's been a journey. We're really trying to work on chemistry and practice playing together. It's getting there, but it's been good to see the growth."

For Tuscola, the win improves the Mountaineers' record to 9-7-2 and 8-3-1 in conference play. That conference record is good enough for second in the Mountain 8 right now. There's still a week left in the soccer regular season, and the Mountaineers still have a tough match with Brevard, which is undefeated in conference play. But Tuscola looks poised to hold on to its advantage over third-place North Henderson.

"There's tough competition throughout the conference. We'll get some rest, have some training sessions and see what happens next week," Brady said.

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