Thursday night marked the second meeting between the Lady Mustangs and Lady Blue Tornado on the soccer field, and the second time McCracken came out on top. Four first-half goals gave the home team a lead Tilghman couldn’t come back from, as the final score ended at 5-0.
Before the game, both teams came together in a balloon release ceremony in support of cancer awareness, as Breast Cancer Awareness Month runs through the entire month of October. Coach of the Lady Mustangs Mike Lane said the ceremony is important to the team, which is why they continue to do it year after year.
“That’s just something we try to do. We try to honor those who have it, have survived their battle with it, and those who have lost their battle with it,” Coach Lane said. “We give both teams the option to do that with us, and it just so happens we played Tilghman the past couple of years, and they’ve been participating in that. It’s a good thing for the girls to do.”
As for the game itself, the Lady Mustangs were able to run up a four-goal lead by halftime. Just six minutes in, Madeleine Ault capitalized on a corner kick with a header that landed into the back of the net. McCracken’s lone second-half goal also came from a corner kick, with Lucy Farmery notching her second of the match after a nice assist from Maddy Ledgerwood.
Goals stemming from corner kicks have been an emphasis for Coach Lane in practice, and with two of their scores from that facet, he was pleased with the team’s ability to adapt and capitalize on those chances.
“We’ve struggled scoring goals on set pieces,” Lane said. “That’s something we’ve really worked on in practice, just trying to get girls to not be afraid to use their head. We got two goals as a result of it tonight.”
Maddy Ledegrwood was involved with all five goals in the match, tallying two goals and three assists. Her contributions to the team continue to be as impactful as anyone’s, as her work continues to drive this team’s offense. Her goals came 15 minutes apart in the first half, weaving through the defense in both situations and powering them in for the scores.
Although they managed just one goal in the final 40 minutes compared to four in the first half, Coach Lane said this was not a cause for concern, as the heat, time, and situation all played a factor in the offense stalling.
“I felt like in the second half we got a little static. I don’t know if it was the late night or whatever it was, but we still got the result we wanted.”
The Lady Mustangs evened up their season record at 7-7-3 with the win and, with just five games left in the regular season, will host Henderson County this Saturday to start their final stretch towards the playoffs.
Tilghman also has just five games left on their schedule. At 4-7-1, they take the weekend off to regroup before traveling to Caldwell for a matchup with the Lady Tigers on Tuesday.