A heated overtime soccer match against East Lincoln Friday, May 11 ended in victory for the Polk County High School Lady Wolverines.
Ellese Cash came up with the winning goal, her second on the evening, in the 104th minute. Cash knocked the ball into the net off an assist from Mckenna Callahan, who laid the ball across the goal after Lyric Flood tossed it in during the second period of overtime against the Mustangs.
“We expected a pretty competitive, close game and that’s what we got,” said PCHS Head Coach Lennox Charles.
The Wolverines ended the game 3-2 with that goal.
Charles said Cash made all the difference offensively for the Wolverines.
“She definitely played her best game of the year Friday,” he said. “She worked very hard and was dangerous that night. She made East Lincoln have to constantly worry about her.”
Cash had also opened up scoring Friday night with the Wolverines’ first goal in the first three minutes of the game, Charles said. Polk scored again, going up 2-0 off a Samantha Firby goal, assisted by Alessandra Akers.
“Talking to the East Lincoln coach after, he said he felt the biggest difference in the game was us getting those goals early,” Charles said. “They were unsettled for most of the first half of the game and by the time they got settled we were ahead.”
Charles said he also believes his team playing consistently well on defense played a key role in the win.
“As a whole we played really good soccer,” Charles said. “Everyone we put in made a solid contribution.”
Charles pointed out the well-played games of Lyric Flood and Jessica Pullara saying they both stepped up in this game.
“Jessica works really hard and gets up and down the field,” Charles said. “She’s somebody who doesn’t always get on the stats sheet but I thought she really stepped up and had a really great game.”
Polk’s defense did give up two goals to East Lincoln – one in the 28 minute from a free kick to make it 2-1 going into half time and another to tie the Wolverines in the 61 minute.
With this overtime win, Polk heads to South Iredell to face the Lady Vikings Wednesday, May 16 at 7 p.m.
Charles said he knows this will be a tough match as South Iredell advanced to 20-2 on the season after an 8-6 win Saturday.
“They gave up some goals on Saturday but the thing with them is they are very hard to stop with their best players on offense,” he said. “If you can get down to their end you can score, but getting down there is the challenge because they are so strong offensively.”
A win over South Iredell would put the Wolverines in the quarterfinal against either Owen or Shelby.