Lyon County soccer senior night

Above, Soccer seniors and their proud parents had a bittersweet night-Photo by Levi Holsapple

Senior night festivities were highlighted Monday night with a decisive victory for the Lady Lyons soccer squad and a last minute tie for the Lyons. In the varsity twin bill, both teams hosted Reidland for the first time this season. The presentation of senior soccer members followed as lone Lyon Brandon Fraliex, Lady Lyons Brittany Doom, Shelby Snow, Kathryn French, Sidney Greene, Savannah P’Poole, Paige McKinney, Autumn Herrington, Victoria Lee, Tori Jenkins, and Kelsey Martin were honored. Following the presentations, the Lady Lyons cruised to a 6-1 win over the Lady Greyhounds. The Lyons (0-10-2) began the festivities as they battled the Greyhounds (2-13-1) to a 1-1 tie.
In the boys contest, both teams came out ready to play defensively with no goals scored by either team in the first half. Several close calls, however, did occur throughout the first half. Fraliex’s shot came within inches of finding the net after Reidland goalie Zach Wren dropped the ball after a save right at the foot of Fraliex. The shot on an empty net soared over the net and resulted in a goal kick for the Greyhounds. Reidland had their fair share of shot attempts, all of which were successfully defended by the strong Lyon defense. Lyon goalkeeper Houston Cruce was able to respond just quick enough to save a strong shot off the foot of Greyhound Kevin Glass. Both defenses were able to maintain their team’s shutout going into the second half of play.
Fraliex led a strong defensive effort in the second half of play by breaking up several breakaway attempts by Greyhound players. After several hard shot attempts and drives by the Lyon offense in the second half by Landon Norman and Hunter Thomas, Lyon was finally able to find their first and only goal of the contest. Lyon struck first with less than 10 minutes remaining in the contest when Thomas was able to score a goal despite the efforts of Wren. The goal by Thomas put Lyon up 1-0 and well on their way to their first win of the season. Lyon’s roster took a hit not long after the Thomas goal when Alex Russell was injured on a play with 4:29 remaining in the game. The injury proved crucial to the Lyons as they were unable to substitute and ultimately gave up a goal during stoppage time because of it. Reidland capitalized on a corner kick with less than two minutes remaining when the ball bounced off a Lyon player and into the net. This gave Reidland their first and only goal of the game, enough to tie the home team. This tie was not as rewarding as a win for Fraliex’s last home game, but was satisfying nonetheless as his team overcome many challenges.
After the recognition of the senior class of Lyon County soccer players, it was time for the girls contest. It did not take long before the starting whistle blew that Lyon (6-9-1) was on the attack. Through a combination of leadership by the senior offense and passing, P’Poole was able to score her first goal past the outstretched arms of Reidland’s Lakyn Stringer to put her team up 1-0. This ice breaker goal came just ten minutes into the contest and gave the Lady Lyons an early advantage. However, the Lady Greyhounds (3-9-3) rebounded quickly by scoring their own goal just 90 seconds later as Alex McGregor’s pass to Stacey Lambert found a way into the goal. The ball was mishandled by Lyon goalkeeper Doom before falling just over the goal line, a goal that would ultimately tie the game early. After a nearly perfect pass by McKinney, Snow’s shot from outside of the goal box found a way over a crowd of offensive players and into the net with just 21:40 remaining in the first half. Her shot soared from the left side of the box just into the upper right corner of the net giving the home team a definitive 2-1 lead. This score would remain until halftime with the Lady Lyons successfully defending their home field for senior night.
The second half of play began with scoring almost as quickly as it had in the first half with McKinney being involved in the strangest series of events of the night when a corner kick from Jenkins was headed by McKinney into Lady Greyhound Rachel Lawler and ultimately ended up in the far corner of the net. It was this series that gave Lyon their third goal of the night with 27:17 remaining in the game and Reidland a taste of what the Lyon boys’ team had to face after their own goal. Martin earned a place in the scorebook with 11:53 left when she was able to direct a ball from in the air just past Stringer. This impressive play was able to put Lyon up by three goals, with all goals so far being scored by the senior class. The fifth Lyon County goal came when McKinney’s throw in from the right sideline to Snow led to a breakaway attempt where Snow was able to record her second goal of the night. This was Snow’s first goal of the second half of play after her long distance shot in the first half found the back of the goal. Jenkins was able to score her own goal when she capitalized on her opportunity at a free kick. From the right side of the field, Jenkins angled the ball just outside of the reach of Reidland’s defense and over the heads of several defenders for her first goal of the contest. Lyon’s final goal came during stoppage time and was able to end the game on a good note for the Lady Lyons and their seniors.
Both Lyon County teams were in action Tuesday night (prior to press time). The Lyons traveled to Union County (1-9-0) where they hoped to avenge an earlier loss to the Braves in a V/JV contest. The Lady Lyons will be on the road against Heath (12-4-2) where they will be looking for their seventh win of the season in a JV/V game that will begin at 5:45 p.m.. Thursday night both teams will again be in action. The girls are set to host the Hopkins County Central (5-9-1) Lady Storm at 5:30 in a JV/V contest. The boys will be on the road against the Storm of Hopkins County Central (3-11-3) in a V/JV game that is slated to begin at 5:30. Fourth district tournament games will begin on Oct. 12 for the Lyons when they will play the Trigg County Wildcats (10-2-4) at 7:30 p.m.. The following night, the Lady Lyons will be facing the Lady Wildcats (10-4-0) at Crittenden County in a varsity only contest beginning at 7:30. District championship games are set to be played in both divisions on Oct. 15 with the boys’ held at Lyon County and the girls’ at Crittenden County. Both championship games are set for 8 p.m..