Lady Cougars return home with two wins

TOP PHOTO: Lady Cougars huddle before their first match at the 2021 Fall Smoky Mountain Cup.

By Amber Cowell

GATLINBURG, TN (WLAF) – The Lady Cougar Soccer team traveled to Pittman High School this weekend to participate in the 2021 Fall Smoky Mountain Cup. More than 50 teams from all across the southeast were represented.  

The Cougars’ first game was Friday night against Macon County.  Macon County was an even match for Campbell County resulting in an exciting competition to watch.  The Cougars played the tournament without their starting goalkeeper, but Senior Faith Elkins stepped into the role seamlessly holding Macon to a single goal.  Juniors Sage Elwin and Cheyenne Davis both scored giving the Cougars their first win in the tournament.

Saturday’s game was a late game against Cosby High School made even later with the weather causing the tournament to run behind coupled with a lightning delay.  The delay did little to dampen the Cougar energy and the team came out with a fervor not seen in the previous game.  Junior Sage Elwin has the ability to shoot from far outside the 18 yard box with remarkable accuracy which proved true in Saturday’s match as she was able to score four goals. Sophomore Harley Smith was able to get a goal in the 26th minute in the first half.  Along with Elwin’s fourth goal of the match, Junior Zaylyn Ivey and Sophomore Jordan Asher were able to increase the Cougar’s lead.  Again, Faith Elkins was brilliant in the goal holding Cosby to one goal.  The Cougars came away with an impressive score of 7-1.

Sunday brought heat, heat and more heat.  The Cougars were set to compete against Sevier County High School at 2:30.  Either the heat or playing 3 games in a row caused the Cougars to come out slow.  SCHS had only played one previous game in the tournament and looked more rested than the Cougars.  SCHS was able to score two goals within the first twenty minutes and they didn’t slow down with the score 5-0 at the half.  The Cougars did not give up and had promising runs at goal, in particular Senior, Audry Bishop’s run from back defense through the entire SCHS squad to have a shot on goal only to be denied.  SCHS double and sometimes triple covered the Cougars’ strikers keeping them scoreless the entire match.  The Cougars lost their final match of the tournament 8-0.

Tuesday, the Lady Cougars travel to Scott County, with their first home game being Thursday against Anderson County. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 08/23/2021-6AM-PHOTOS COURTESY OF WLAF’S AMBER COWELL)