Lady Mavs finish among state’s best
Anderson County’s Roxana Aguilar works past Elizabethton defender Camryn Blevins during the Lady Mavericks’ sectional victory. Aguilar later scored a goal in Anderson County’s 3-2 comeback win over Sycamore in the Class 2A state quarterfinals. (photo:Tony Cox )
Despite falling behind 2-0 in the opening five minutes, the fifth-seeded Lady Mavericks stormed back with three unanswered goals — the last coming in the 61st minute — to claim a thrilling 3-2 victory over fourth-seeded Sycamore.
Anderson County’s defense held firm after the early setback, helping the Lady Mavericks advance to the state semifinals and ultimately finish tied for third in the tournament with a 16-6-1 record. Sycamore finished 18-3.
“They scored two goals on us in less than five minutes, and I thought for sure, I was like, ‘Well, this is gonna be a long day,’” Anderson County Coach Chris Curtin said. “And then Roxana (Aguilar) scored one (14th minute), and I was thinking, ‘Well, we’re not done yet.’
“Then Delila Colby scored (39th minute), and we tied it up by halftime. And then about 20 minutes into the second half, Kate Swisher scored the third one.”
Curtin praised his team’s determination after the disastrous start.
“I was really proud of the way that the girls continued to just hang in there — they didn’t get discouraged, and we talked about giving yourself grace and giving your teammates grace,” Curtin said.
“And just no matter what, we wanted to focus on the next ball. So every time something didn’t go our way, we just kind of said, ‘Reset, next ball,’ and didn’t dwell on it. I really feel like they did that really well and stayed in the game.”
Both teams finished with 13 shots, while Lady Mavericks goalkeeper Bria Willis recorded three saves.
In the semifinals Wednesday, Oct. 28, also at Baylor School, Anderson County fell 3-1 to top-seeded South Gibson.
“We lost 3-1 to South Gibson. They were a good team, and we were nursing a lot of injuries,” Curtin said. “And so we had some people that we asked to step up in new positions, and I felt like they did a good job of that.
“It just, at the end of the day, didn’t go our way. But I think that we gave them all they wanted, though.”
Colby scored Anderson County’s lone goal in the 61st minute, unassisted.
South Gibson (16-3-2), the eventual state runner-up, held a 15-10 advantage in shots. Willis finished with six saves.
“The girls set a goal very early on that they wanted to go to state this year,” Curtin said. “And I told them I wanted them to define that, that it had to be their goal. It couldn’t be my goal.
“And so they worked hard, and they put their minds to it, and they put in the effort and all the training in the summer and all the practices and everything,” he added.
“I had 34 girls, including a JV squad, and they came to everything. And once we achieved that goal, then it was time to set a new goal. And that goal really was to win state.
“Obviously, we fell a little bit short of that, but we made it into the Final Four.
“And so I’m just really proud of them.”