Soccer: Lady Falcons set up first-place showdown with Apalachee

FLOWERY BRANCH -- Everything fell into place for the Class AAAA eighth-ranked Flowery Branch girls soccer team Tuesday night.

Coming off their first loss of the season last week to Heritage-Conyers, the Lady Falcons faced the prospect of falling to third place in Region 8-AAAA with another loss to Habersham Central. Instead, their 5-1 win over the Lady Raiders coupled with Loganville's win over Heritage pushed them back into first place in the region.

The Lady Falcons (13-1, 6-1 Region 8-AAAA) are now tied with Apalachee (8-4-1, 6-1) and the two teams will meet Friday in Bethlehem for first place outright.

Flowery Branch coach Katie Scali was wondering how her group would respond following their first loss.

"We talked about putting that behind us and just moving forward," Scali said. "I thought the girls did a great job of responding and not letting that affect them."

The Lady Falcons started quickly when Cassidy Elrod knifed through the Habersham defense with a series of nifty moves that ended with an 8-yard blast past the Habersham keeper for a 1-0 lead just three minutes into the game.

But, a wacky bounce deep in Flowery Branch territory allowed Habersham's Kally Rushnell to score on a 12-yard volley to tie the game four minutes later. That was as close as the Lady Raiders (2-5, 2-3) would get the rest of the way.

Cashen Philyaw reclaimed the lead for Flowery Branch five minutes later on a goal off a corner kick and then the Lady Falcons put the game away with two goals in the final five minutes of the first half on goals by Megan Kirk and Jean Moreno for a 4-1 halftime lead.

Flowery Branch sealed the victory when Elrod streaked down the left sideline and then set up Corrie Thomas on a beautiful crossing pass six minutes into the second half.

"I thought we played very well the entire game," Scali said. "The only bad spot was that crazy bounce on their goal. We really finished strong, which is what we want to do."

Flowery Branch dominated the play spending nearly the entire game on the Habersham side of the field. The Lady Falcons unofficially outshot Habersham 21-3 for the game.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2012/3/246920