On Tuesday night 10-13-15 the Lady Owls headed to Macon County High School to play against Merrol Hyde Magnet School Hawks in the D8A-AA Semi-Final. Talk about one super intense game! Smith County Lady Owls lost to Merrol Hyde last year in the very same game 3-5 and had vowed this year would be different. Both teams came out onto the pitch with nothing in mind but winning and making it to the final round of the playoffs. The Hawks took shot after shot against Smith County goalie Tori Lankford but she was determined that nothing would get by her. The Lady Owls had their fair share of shots on goal but nothing was hitting the net. Score at halftime was 0-0.
Going into the second half, Assistant Coach Chris Smith said, “Whoever scores will win tonight.” Both teams struggled still to land a goal. With exceptional defense on both sides of the field, one was beginning to wonder if it’d come down to penalty kicks. With everything on the line, the Lady Owls still pushed forward hard and their efforts finally paid off when junior forward Abby Smith finally found the back of the net with a pass from Katy Wright. The Smith County crowd and sideline went wild. The game was not over yet though. Coaches Dunbar and Smith changed the formation to a 4-4-2 which stacked the two center mids. This would give them the added defense they needed in order to keep the Hawks out of scoring range. Smith County defense of Alyssa West, Delani Harrelson, Madison Spivey, Katy Wright and captains Lena Broyles and Savannah Wright along with goalie Tori Lankford were able to shut down the Hawks and bring home a victory of 1-0. The Lady Owls would finally overcome Merrol Hyde and make it to the D8A-AA Championship game just like they did in the Lady Owls’ captain’s freshman year of 2012. When Coach Dunbar was asked about the game, “Merrol Hyde is a great team and well coached. They sent us home last year and this year we returned the favor. It was a hard fought game from start to finish.”
