ROCKWOOD, Tenn. | Oneida senior Aliyah Douglas scored her fourth hat trick of the season, senior Claire Burress added a pair of additional goals, and the Lady Indians cruised to a 7-0 road win here Thursday to wrap up second place in the District 3-A regular season standings.
Oneida jumped to a 4-0 halftime lead, then tacked on three second half goals to run its district record to 3-1. The win guarantees that the Lady Indians will host a postseason game to start the district tournament.
Burress got things started with an unassisted goal in the game's second minute, then assisted Douglas's first goal in the 10th minute.
Late in the first half, Douglas made it 3-0, then assisted another goal by Burress to make it 4-0 just before the intermission.
Alexea Jones scored less than two minutes into the second half, and Douglas completed her hat trick less than two minutes after that.
Ali Smith scored late to complete the Lady Indians' scoring.
“We got off to a great start, something that has been off for us for a while,” Oneida coach Phil Newport said. “We had lots of creativity and we worked harder tonight with good results. We kept Rockwood in check all night and the defense really did well closing them off. We were much cleaner in the middle, as well.”
Sophomore Presley Queener returned to the team from concussion protocol, and Newport said she played well, while Burress and Douglas spearheaded the offensive effort.
“The passing tonight was much more effective,” he said. “We connected really well and exposed their back quite a bit.”
The Lady Indians took their foot off the gas after running the score to 6-0, and everybody played the rest of the way.
“I think the girls really reacted to the talk about building towards the postseason,” Newport said. “We were so much sharper than we were on Tuesday night. The connection on our passes was so much cleaner.”
Newport credited the play of Ayla Sims, Rory Blevins, Smith, Lydia Kline and Kenlee Duncan.
“All the defensive players really complimented the offense tonight,” he said. “We counter-attacked so well against the Lady Tigers, who I thought kept their strongest players in the back end, but we just got to them quick.”
