Coming off a disappointing loss to Clarke County, the William Monroe girls soccer team already had plenty of motivation to play against rival Madison County. Throw in senior night festivities and there was even more incentive. It wasn’t until the last five minutes of play that the Dragons allowed the Mountaineers a shot. Behind a quick surge in the first half, Monroe took control early and was able to maintain it for the vast majority of the contest in its 7-1 win.
“It’s the best I’ve seen us pass all season,” said Dragons coach Jeremy Lamm. “We were coming off that tough loss to Clarke where our heads just weren’t in it and we came out strong tonight and had fun. I told them that was the biggest thing I wanted out of them.”
Senior Rachel DeMasters hit the crossbar twice and floated in a handful of corners that looked like they might bend into the goal. After 16 minutes of knocking on the door, Monroe finally punched one through with DeMasters finishing a rebound off a shot from Juliet Karnes.
“Coming into the game things were exciting because it was senior night — that added some hype to the game,” DeMasters said. “We definitely worked as a unit, there wasn’t any spot on the field where we were lacking physically. We worked well together and it was great to watch.”
And the Dragons blew up after that first goal. Roughly six minutes later, DeMasters picked up the hat trick off of a pass from Elizabeth Tibbets. Then off a corner from DeMasters, Ariana Mills made it 4-0 with a little under four minutes left in the first half.
In the second, Monroe kept pushing with the combination of Karnes and Kristin Manz stopping Madison from breaking out time-after-time. For her reward, Karnes picked up a goal ten minutes after after the break.
“Once we got the first goal of the game we settled down and that created a lot more opportunities,” Karnes said. “In the middle of the field the goal was to get to the ball as quickly as possible and push them to where I thought the person behind me could make the best play.”
Three minutes later, DeMasters scored her her most emphatic goal, a top-shelfer after undressing a pair of defenders as she crossed the middle of the field. With 24 min left, DeMasters picked up her fifth to wrap up the scoring for the Dragons.
“Juliet did a great job of winning the ball in the middle of the field and once Rachel got a sniff of the goal she just went all out,” Lamm said.
While Madison’s defense and goalie Amanda Jasper were able to absorb the initial onslaught, the Mountaineers only able to generate one corner kick worth of offense in the first half. And without a shot on offense until there were five minutes left in the game, Madison faced a tough uphill battle. Jasper had 14 saves on the night as she played particularly well in the first half. The Mountaineers had a pair of scoring chances just miss as the second half wound down. Then after the Dragons were hit with a yellow card, Lily Dodson broke up the shutout on a deep free kick to make it 7-1.
On the night, DeMasters had five goals. Karnes and Mills each had a goal and assist. The Dragons out-shout the Mountaineers 20-3.
Madison hosts Central Woodstock on Tuesday while Monroe travels to George Mason on Monday.
