Alcoa readies for postseason with shutout of Rockwood
By Grant Ramey | (grantr@thedailytimes.com)
Roughly three weeks aways from postseason play, Shane Corely’s Alcoa soccer team finds itself in a place it’s been before.
That familiar position is a game back of Kingston on it’s side of District 4-A/AA, looking to host a first round tournament game.
“(It’s) the same spot we’ve been in the last couple of years,” Corely told The Daily Times Tuesday after his Lady T’s beat blanked visiting Rockwood 3-0.
“We lost to Kingston, so on our side of the bracket we’re No. 2 right now,” Corely continued. “So that puts us, if we can win out next week, then we would host a first round district match.”
Veronica Vineyard scored a pair of goals on four shots and Julia Webster used three shots to score another goal in Tuesday’s shutout of Rockwood.
“Tonight was a good night,” Corely said. “We actually looked pretty good.”
Webster broke the scoreless tie with a goal in the 16th minute, scoring from the right side on a shot crossing the Rockwood goal, finding the back of the net just inside the left post.
Vineyard recorded her first goal a little more than 10 minutes later, off a Webster assist, for a 2-0 lead for Alcoa (5-6-2).
“We did a better job on the ball,” Corely said, “and better decision making than we have in a while.”
Vineyard found the back of the net again in the second half, building the three-goal advantage with a 54th-minute score.
Corely said against a team like Rockwood, it’s all about his team controlling the tempo.
“We feel like, a team like (Rockwood) tonight, we’ll ask (our players) to dictate the play of the game,” Corely said. “Make sure that we come out from the first whistle, that we play the game at our pace and play it the way we want to play it.
“We don’t sit back and let them dictate how we play. So we did a very good job of that.”
A tournament last Saturday at Johnson City’s Science Hill High School helped get Corely’s team headed in the right direction for the stretch run.
“We had a couple of rough games but against the best team,” Corely said. “(Saturday night) we played our best match and it was against Science Hill.
“We played well. They beat us, they were the better team, but we played well.”
Alcoa has a trip to Tellico Plains Tuesday and returns home to Senior Night on Oct. 9 against Grace Christian before the district tournament begins Oct. 15.
Corely said next week is a pair of must-wins if his teams wants to host come playoff time.
“We’ve got to win two on the road next week.”
