Victoria Laster lifts Lady Mavs in second OT

Anderson County hosted Livingston Academy Tuesday in region play

October 23, 2019 by Collin Riggs

After a cold, grueling game against Scott County last Tuesday, the Lady Mavs tied down their volleyball district championship on Thursday, Oct. 17.

The weather was cold and windy out on the Maverick field as both teams took their place. Scott County came into the game with a record of 10-4-1 according to Maxpreps.com, while Anderson County entered the Division playoffs 9-6.

Scott County’s keeper took an injury in the first half after a collision on the field with an Anderson County player resulted in a small tumble and fall.

The keeper got to her feet holding her leg and was swapped for another player. With how even the matchup seemed, a keeper could be make or break, but the Scott County replacement keeper managed well. In fact, their keeper managed well enough to push the game into a second overtime.

Through the entirety of regulation time, neither team managed to score. Both teams came close multiple times, but every time either the ball bounced off the goal supports or the keeper grabbed the ball before an attacker could finish.

By the end of regulation play, the players of both teams were exhausted. The intense running that marked the beginning of the game was relegated to short bursts of speed whenever a chance at scoring presented itself. Other than those short bursts of energy, most of the players slowed down tremendously. Even the referees were moving slower and breathing heavy.

The first 10-minute overtime passed without either side scoring, or even coming close, and after a five-minute break, the second overtime started. TSSAA allows two 10-minute overtime periods for soccer games before teams take penalty shots to decide the outcome of the game.

The second period passed without incident, too, and it seemed the game was about to move to penalty shots when, with a minute and a half left, Hayllynn Willis drove the ball downfield and past Scott County’s defenders. Driving it all the way down the field, she cut the ball to the side to shoot. She missed, but the ball bounced and rolled in front of the goal.

A writhing mass of players all closed in, jarring and shimmying to get at the ball, but it was Victoria Laster who won out, knocking the ball into the goal to score the only goal of the night with the help of Natalie Bartley.

With only a minute and a half left, there was nothing Scott County could do to mount an effective push and the clock ran out, sealing Anderson County’s place as the district champions.

Anderson County hosted Livingston Academy Tuesday night in the region phase of the state tournament.