Smyrna avenges 2002 loss to Lady Pioneers
SMYRNA — It’s said that revenge is a dish best served cold.
For the Smyrna girls’ soccer team, however, suffocatingly muggy will do fine.
“We were mentally ready for this game — we were going to get ’em back,” Smyrna’s Julie Wood said, explaining why visiting Warren County was so eagerly dispatched 7-0 Tuesday night.
“We just wanted to play hard and take care of business.”
In hot, humid conditions, the Lady Bulldogs raised their record to 2-0-1 and returned a favor to Warren County, which shut out visiting Smyrna 3-0 last season.
“This was mostly about revenge,” said Jerethea Adams, who led Smyrna with three goals. “We were focused on this game and wanted to play it like the last game of our lives. That’s why we came out so aggressive.”
It didn’t take for Smyrna to take control as Wood scored in the third minute and Rachel Parker followed threaded a shot through a crowd five minutes later to open a 2-0 lead.
“Our keeper wasn’t focused at the start,” said new Warren County coach Keith Hamilton, who replaced starting goalkeeper Erin Wolford with April Burkett after the second goal. “That got us back on our heels, but we’ll be OK.”
Adams placed a shot to the right of Burkett in the 37th minute for her first goal and a 3-0 cushion at halftime.
“We’re in good shape — the problem is we need to put the ball in the net,” Smyrna coach Pete Dakis said. “Once we do that it’s different. We play with a different confidence when we score early.”
Adams picked up her second goal on a penalty kick in the 42nd minute after being tackled in the box.
Gathering the ball five yards in front of the Lady Pioneer goal, she lifted a shot over Burkett to complete the hat trick in the 55th minute.
Wood notched her second goal in the 57th minute, heading in a corner kick from Frankie Maynard.
Tori Myers capped the scoring in the 69th minute, placing a shot 25 yards out high into the net.
“We played high-pressure, simple soccer,” Dakis said. “We don’t try to be fancy. We just play.”
The Lady Bulldogs finished with 18 shots on goal while Warren County (1-3-0) managed only two.
“I thought my girls played hard, gutsy soccer,” said Hamilton, who was the referee in the Warren County-Smyrna game last season. “Smyrna has just got good players and a good team.”
The Lady Pioneers were in action Thursday night against Oakland.