Marshall, WB shut out Maryville in scoreless tie
By Grant Ramey | (grantr@thedailytimes.com)
When the game clock ran out of time Thursday night William Blount ran to its bench screaming in excitement. Maryville, on the other hand, walked off the field in what looked like defeat.
The Lady Govs didn’t win. And the Lady Rebels didn’t lose. But if such a thing as a moral victory exists, it was all William Blount’s.
Maryville shot 38 times and William Blount goalkeeper Mandy Marshall stopped all 26 MHS shots on goal to preserve a 0-0 tie at John Sevier Elementary School.
The Lady Rebels spent what seemed like the entire 80 minutes on WB’s defensive half, but Marshall was up to the challenge every time a shot went to the net.
“The whole game was played on our defensive end,” WB coach Mark Burnett told The Daily Times. “First half we got a little confused, we needed her unbelievably
“Second half, defense tightened up, we started guarding instead of watching the ball.
“And basically, in the second half, because the defense did their job, they gave (Marshall) some nice angles to play the ball.”
Marshall saved her best saves for the second half for William Blount (1-6-6).
Twice she fell on loose balls in the goal box, once with 11 minutes left on the clock and again with just four minutes left in the match.
She stopped a pair of point-blank shots earlier in the half.
“It was tough game,” Marshall said, “but I didn’t want to let my team down.
“And it’s senior year, so I didn’t want to lose this game because it’s Maryville.”
It had been a long wait for Marshall and her senior teammates against the Lady Rebels, even if it was just a tie.
“The past three years I’ve been here we’ve lost, and 6-0 was the lowest (score), so tying, it feels like a win to us,” Marshall said.
“Maryville is a good team so we really had to play a lot of defense tonight.”
It looked like Maryville had taken a 1-0 lead off a corner kick in the first half, but the goal was called off after the official determined Marshall had been interfered with before getting to the 50-50 ball out of the corner.
That was all the help Marshall would need in recording the Lady Govs’ fourth shutout of the year. It was WB’s third scoreless tie of the season.
“(In the) first half she made some great saves,” Burnett said. “She kept us alive.”
William Blount hosts Lenoir City in a make-up game Monday at 6 p.m. before wrapping up the regualr season Tuesday at 5:30 against Greenback.
Webb will travel to Maryville Oct. 10 for a 5:30 game on Senior Night at John Sevier Elementary.
