Smith’s late goal lifts S-C

The only score of the game came at the right time for the Smith-Cotton Lady Tigers soccer team on Friday night.

Freshman Tanaeia Smith punched home a shot off a crossing pass from Ceci Perez with three minutes remaining in the match to give Smith-Cotton a 1-0 win over the Milton Lady Red Hawks in the 2008 Lady Tiger soccer tournament.

Smith worked into position on the right side of the goal, waiting for the cross from Perez, who worked around a defender before unleashing her pass.

That goal capped a frustrating night for the Lady Tigers, who had dominated play on the offensive end but couldn’t score for 37 minutes.

“We just couldn’t find the net,” said Smith-Cotton coach Shawn Cairer. “We were creating the opportunities, just couldn’t finish. There with about six minutes left, we put another striker up top just to put more pressure on them because it would have ended in a tie since it’s a tournament point system.”

After Smith’s goal, the Lady Tigers had to survive one final run from the Lady Red Hawks.

Smith-Cotton goalkeeper Cristian Sharp made a smothering save on a point-blank shot to preserve the win in the final minute of play.

Neither team mustered much offensive push in the first half as the defenses dominated play.

Smith-Cotton (12-3) had a couple of good chances in the final 10 minutes of the opening half, but Milton goalie Lyndsey Tiffany turned away those shots.

“We couldn’t get it together in the offensive third. The second half, we created a lot better,” Cairer said.

The Lady Tigers began the second half pushing the ball up the field and putting pressure on the Milton defense.

Claire Waldo made a run up the left side and crossed it to Tiffany Wehmeyer, but her shot sailed over the goal and the game remained scoreless.

Waldo, Wehmeyer, Alicia Dunkin, and Jessica Greer kept pushing the ball up the field, but their shots did not find the net.

Kali Webb joined the offensive push with a solid shot with 14 minutes remaining, but that shot sailed wide right.

With the Lady Tigers dominating at the offensive end, defenders Lindsay Cornell and Amanda Azan had few threats, but answered those with physical play to keep Milton off the scoreboard.

The win helped Smith-Cotton bounce back from a 4-2 loss to the Glendale Lady Falcons earlier in the day.

“We played Glendale this afternoon and played horrible,” Cairer said. “We wanted to come out and play much better. Even though it was just a 1-0 result, we played much better.”