KNOXVILLE | This time, Scott High soccer coach Eric Henry said, the effort was much better.
Henry, who questioned his team’s effort and readiness in a 6-1 loss to Cumberland Gap on Thursday, applauded the effort against CAK on Tuesday. And while the end result was a 3-1 loss, Henry said the loss was something his team could build on.
“It was a much better effort all the way around tonight,” Henry said. “All three of their goals were simply mistakes by us. Nothing fabulous, nothing glorious. Just simply mistakes that we can fix. We had a couple of offensive mistakes that cost us opportunities, as well.”
CAK scored two goals in a span of three minutes in the first half, and then the Lady Highlanders played the Warriors evenly after that. In fact, Scott High dominated possession for the final 30 minutes of the first half, though it didn’t result in a goal. The score remained 2-0 at the half.
The second half saw CAK add a goal before Scott High finally got on the board in the 63rd minute, with Alyssa Crabtree scoring on a header off a corner kick by Olivia Rector.
Scott had other chances, too.
In fact, Ellie Lowe appeared to score on a kick off the cross bar, but the side judge was not in position to make the call before the ball was knocked out of the goal.
Henry credited CAK coach Ried Estus, who has been the long-time leader of the Warrior program.
“He’s one of the classiest coaches around,” Henry said. “He never tries to run up the score like some of the other teams that we play. He does it the right way.”
Scott High continued to play short-handed on Tuesday. Two key players in the rotation, Brittany Morrow (hip) and Emily Fladie (concussion), missed the game completely, as did starter Abby Reynolds, who was out with illness. Several other players were limited by injuries as the game progressed, including starters Zoey Terry (knee) and Rachel Garrett (hip).
In their absence, Henry continued to shuffle players in his lineup.
“I was proud of their effort,” Henry said. “I don’t know what moral victories are, maybe just a loser’s way to feel better about themselves. A loss is still a loss. But I’d much rather lose 3-1 than 6-2 or 8-2 against teams that aren’t as good as this team tonight.”
