The D8A-AA District Championship game was Thursday October 15^th at Macon County High School. The Lady Owls sporting a record of 14-0-0, were full of nervous excitement as they stepped onto the pitch underneath the lights as they faced Central Magnet out of Murfreesboro whose 2015 record stood at 11-1-2. Both teams seemed to come out strong but no one was able to land a goal right away. Central Magnet was the first to score but the Lady Owls held strong and pushed forward without getting down. Now wasn’t the time to lie down and quit. They had been in the same type of games all season and were known to make a comeback before. The Lady Owls did just that when forward Katy Wright got a break away and chased the ball into the net bringing the score 1-1. This seemed to give a new life to the Owls and happened to be just what they needed in order to keep going. But right before half time, Central Magnet returned the favor when they slipped a goal past our keeper and pulling ahead at 1-2.

At the start of the second half, the Lady Owls seemed to have faces of steel. Pushing harder than they’ve ever pushed before, they stood fast in the mid-field trying to hold Central Magnet back but were unable to keep them from scoring once more and bringing the score up to 1-3. However the Lady Owls did not give up hope or determination. They continued to play their best but alas were not able to score again. I’ve never seen a team play with more heart than I did that night. The game ended with a loss of 1-3 but Smith County Lady Owls brought home a few trophies of their own. Not only did they bring home a 2^nd place finalist District Plaque, Coach Bubba Dunbar was named Coach of the Year. There were a string of First Team All-District Players that included: Abby Smith, Abbi Gregory, Savannah Wright and Lena Broyles. The Second Team All-District Players were Katy Wright and Julia Pardue. Our Lady Owl goalkeeper received Goalkeeper of the East District as well. When Coach Dunbar was asked about the game,” We came out and never let up! We played as hard for 80 minutes as a team could play. It just came down to which team was gonna make a mistake and it just happened to be us! We can’t dwell on a loss because we’ve got Regionals to focus on.” The Lady Owls travel to play in the Regional Tournament against Notre Dame Tuesday October 20^th in Chattanooga.

On Thursday October 15^th SCHS principal, Jeanie Hix allowed the SCHS students to participate in an Owl Walk for the Smith County Lady Owls soccer team. At 2:45pm students lined College Avenue outside of the high school and cheered on our undefeated Lady Owls as they walked with a police escort from Owl Street. Earlier that week the students from some of the team’s classes produced signs and had them hanging all around the school to show support as they prepared for their first District Championship game in 4 years. There was quite a large crowd as the team waved to their peers and fans. The Smith County Lady Owls soccer program has gained a huge amount of attention this year with their success. This can only mean good things to come in the future for this program.

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.”

The first round of District Playoffs against York Institute was off to a great start at home Monday 10-12-15. Delani Harrelson was able to perform her famous flip throw that was first touched by a York defender outside the eighteen, sending it into the box as Abby Smith made a touch pass off to Katy Wright. Katy was able to send the ball past the goalie and into the net. In the 10^th minute Katy scored again following a punt from goalie Tori Lankford setting game at 2-0.

The second half was 12 minutes under way when Lady Owls were able to score off of a flip throw again. Abby Smith was switched to left forward and by running onto the ball after the throw in, took a shot that the keeper wasn’t able to control and knocking it into the goal. Final goal came when Abbi Gregory took a shot outside the eighteen after receiving a pass from sophomore Dalia Rodriguez. The playoff game ended with a final score of 4-0 sending the Lady Owls to the semi-finals against Merrol Hyde Magnet School at Macon County High School on Tuesday 10-13-15 making them 13-0-0.

The Smith County Lady Owls travelled to Cumberland County for their last regular season game on Thursday 10-08-15. Lady Owls took the pitch strong and scored within the first 8 minutes of the game with a goal from senior forward Julia Pardue. It wasn’t long after that when Lady Owls found the net again with a combination of ball handling and passing. Young sophomore Alyssa Williams was able to win the ball in the mid-field from a Cumberland County punt by chesting a pass off to Pardue who laid off another pass to Savannah Wright. Pushing the ball toward the net, Wright touched the ball forward to Abby Smith who was then able to turn around the defender and send the ball wide back to Pardue as she was coming up the left side. Julia took the shot across the six aiming for back post when the goalie missed. However sophomore Kierra Crawford was in the right place at the right time and touched the ball into the goal bringing Smith County 2-0.

Cumberland County would not be denied as they started a comeback 25 minutes in by lacing one over our goalie’s head and putting them on the board with their first goal of the night. They scored once again in the 37^th minute as they brought it to a tie of 2-2. The pressure was on for the Owls to come ahead before halftime. Within the 40^th minute right as the halftime buzzer rang out, Mia Harrelson was fouled in the box giving Smith County a penalty kick that was taken by Abby Smith. She kept the ball low and to the right out of the keeper’s reach, upping the score 3-2 for Lady Owls. The second half the Owls showed a tougher resolve as they worked hard at defending and holding Cumberland back from finding the goal. The Lady Owls took a hit when they lost starting forward Julia Pardue to a knee injury and taking her out from the rest of the game. With twenty minutes left the rain set in but the girls continued to press on and defend bringing home a final score of 3-2 and an undefeated regular season of 12-0-0.