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Sydnee Nix, right, beats Habersham Central's Taylor Acker to the ball during Tuesday's match in Cleveland. (Photo/Mark Turner)
It was cold. It was wet. Really wet. But the first round of the Crown Mountain Cup played on Monday night in Cleveland.
The White County varsity soccer squads opened play in the annual tournament, which concludes Saturday in Dahlonega.
Despite the nasty weather and the treacherous playing conditions on the field at Warrior Stadium, the WCHS teams both turned in quality efforts.
The Lady Warriors started things with a 2-0 win over Habersham Central, while the Warriors battled back from a two-goal deficit in the first half to earn a 3-3 draw with West Hall.
Tournament play continued last night as White County played host to Lakeview Academy in a pair of games. Game scores and details were unavailable at press time.
On Saturday, the Lady Warriors take on Lumpkin County at noon, followed by the Warriors' matchup with the Indians at 2 p.m. WCHS will play the region home opener on Thursday, March 5, against Denmark.
On Monday, the Lady Warriors got a pair of first half goals and used some staunch defense to turn away Habersham Central in a 2-0 shutout.
The two teams sloughed around in the middle of the wet field for most of the first half, but WCHS came up with a pair of goals in the final 16 minutes to take control of the game.
With just over 15 minutes left in the half, Skylar Williams scored off an assist from Leah Alexander to get the Lady Warriors on the board.
The Lady Warriors' backline defenders kept the Lady Raiders at bay, limiting Habersham Central to very few deep runs.
With 4:23 to go in the half, Hazen Ramey and McKinley Jones teamed up to extend the lead. Ramey ran down a ball on the right side near the end line just outside the 18-yard box. Ramey crossed the ball in front of the goal, and Jones finished off the pass with a header into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.
In the second half, it was all about the Lady Warriors' defensive effort as they completed the shutout. WCHS keeper Ansley Seabolt had one of the defensive unit's highlight plays, getting her hands on a shot just inside the left post. The ball bounced away from Seabolt, but she managed to roll over in the opposite direction and secured the save, narrowly keeping the ball from rolling over the goal line.
In the boys' contest with West Hall, the Spartans jumped out to a 3-1 lead by intermission, but the Warriors rallied for two goals in the second half to secure the tie.
The two teams were playing for the second time in four days, after opening Region 7-AAAA play last Friday in Oakwood.
Hayden Gensler got the Warriors on the board with a goal in the opening 40 minutes of the game, but the Spartans appeared to be in control, scoring three times to take a commanding lead to halftime.
But things changed in the Warriors' favor in the second half. With the defense controlling the Spartans' attack, Andrew Pierce got the Warriors rolling, scoring both goals to rally the Warriors into the draw. Dominic Stevens, Ian Sanchez, and keeper Tristan Morris led the defensive effort in the second half.
Region opener
Last Friday night, the Warrior teams opened region play with a split at West Hall.
The Lady Warriors dominated the Lady Spartans, scoring four times in the opening half, and then adding six more goals in the second half to close out a 10-0 shutout.
The Lady Warriors scored in the opening 30 seconds of the match and were off to the races.
Jones and Alexis Pashkovets each scored three goals in the win, while Alexander, Ada Smith, Hope Thomas, and Sydnee Nix all had a goal.
Smith had three assists, with Nix, Aubrey Dowdy, and Williams handing out an assist.
In the boys' game, the Warriors battled for 80 minutes but came up short, falling 2-1. Pierce did the scoring honors for the Warriors.