GW Lady Maroons defeat Rural Retreat 2-0 in soccer

By JIM CUNNINGHAM/Staff

After a scoreless first half, the George Wythe Lady Maroons scored twice in the second half to defeat the Rural Retreat Lady Indians 2-0 in a Hogoheegee District girls’ soccer game played Tuesday afternoon at GWHS.
This is the first season that Rural Retreat has fielded a girls’ soccer team, but the Lady Indians gave the more experienced (and more numerous) GW team all it could handle for most of the game.
“Rural Retreat played a very good match,” said George Wythe Coach Scott Dove. And he liked his team’s performance as well. “I’m real proud with the effort. The girls played hard. Rural Retreat is a complete team. I’m really happy with the win.”
It was the first district game of the season for the Lady Maroons, who improved to 4-3-2 overall.
Rural Retreat dropped to 0-2 in the district and 1-4 overall. Rural Retreat Coach Walter Midkiff noted that his team has been competitive in its games this season. In its other district game against Patrick Henry, the Lady Indians were on the short end of a 3-2 score.
Despite being outnumbered 23-14 on a warm afternoon (game time temperature was near 80 degrees), the Lady Indians held their own against George Wythe in the first half. The Lady Maroons had a few more scoring opportunities, but the Lady Indians also made several advances near the GW goal.
The Lady Maroons struck early (at the 32:55 mark) in the second half after Olivia Talbott was tripped in the penalty area to give GW a penalty kick.
Kelby Dove took the PK and drove it towards the left side of the net. RR goalie Lindsay King was able to get her hands on the ball to nearly stop it, but she was unable to hang onto it due to the velocity of the shot.
The Lady Indians nearly answered moments later when a corner kick taken by Charlotte Reasor landed right in front of the GW goal in the middle of a group of players. A GW defender was finally able to clear it out of danger before an Indian could shoot.
Dove nearly had another goal later in the half when she took a shot from nearly 50 yards away that clanged hard off the goal post.
The teams went back and forth for the rest of the second half until Talbott took the ball up the left sideline. She beat two RR defenders and put the ball past the goalie to make it a 2-0 game with only 2:57 showing.

Rural Retreat 0 0—0
George Wythe 0 2—2
(T – 1:36)