The Daily Times

Don’t get the wrong impression from Heritage girls soccer coach Bill Kee.

He was happy with his team’s first win of the season Thursday night at Heritage. But it didn’t quite live up to his coaching philosophy.

Casi Cline scored three goals and Kristen Hmielewiski and Alyssa Weimer each added a goal as the Lady Mountaineers handled visiting Austin-East, 5-1.

Heritage (1-3-1) had 27 shots on goal, and according to Kee, that means there should’ve been 27 points on the scoreboard.

“This is my thing,” Kee told The Daily Times, “If they get it down there close enough to do what they’ve done, they need to put it in. And if they’re not putting it in, they need to figure out what they’re doing that’s not working, fix it on the field, regroup and go again.

“But there were 27 shots on goal, and as you can see by the scoreboard, only five of them went in.”

Cline netted the first three of those five for Heritage.

She snuck her first goal between A-E keeper Qkirahaj Robinson and the right post from 10-yards out for a 1-0 lead 21 minutes into the match.

Cline found the back of the net from the middle of a crowd of both Lady Mountaineers and Lady Roadrunners in the 23rd minute, helping Heritage to a 2-0 lead.

She gave Heritage a 3-0 lead and recorded her hat-trick goal just three minutes into the second half when she buried a kick from dead center of the goal box past the A-E keeper and into the back of the net.

“That’s pretty much her,” Kee said of Cline. “She’s a really good athlete. She’s a senior this year, she’s played all four years — she’s a pretty good player.”

A-E’s Carolyn Hinch cut the lead to 3-1 when she dribbled through the Heritage zone and scored from the left side in the 33rd minute.

Hmielewiski built the Heritage lead back to three-goal advantage in the 36th minute and Weimer capped the four-goal win with a scoring strike later in the half to make it 5-1.

Kee was happy with the win, but he used the make-every-shot-count philosophy as a teaching point in the post-match huddle.

“Did they have a good game? They had an OK game,” Kee said. “They won, and I’m very glad they won, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do. We’ve still got a lot of the season left.

“We’ve gotta knuckle down and start playing and practicing a little harder. They’ve got to pick it up another notch.”

More than anything, Kee said, Thursday’s win was progress.

“We’re better than we were when we started. Are we where we want to be? No. We’re not where we want to be. Again, that’s gonna take a lot of work and a lot of sweat to get there.

“We are improving. And we’re going to continue to improve.”

Heritage is on the road for its next three matches, traveling to Pigeon Forge Tuesday, Sequoyah next Friday and to Sevier County on Sept. 17. The Lady Mountaineers are back home Sept. 18 against Carter.