The Clinton Lady Dark Horses soccer team took to their home field again Friday afternoon to compete in the second round of the 2A state playoffs. Playing host to the ladies of South Granville, Clinton dominated the first half en route to a 5-0 win.
The Horses surely paved an easy path to next round with the overall dominant performance they showed in the early parts of this contest. Wasting little time at all, they got the first two of their five goals with the first three minutes.
“We are very proud of our girls. We started out strong, especially with how we scored those two goals within the first few minutes. We passed the ball accurately and overall we played a very strong first half,” said assistant coach Lindsey Bass. “We slowed down a bit in the second half, but still got it together and we’re ready for the third round.”
Elizabeth Coleman would be the Dark Horse to get things rolling after finding the net at 2:17 of the match, which gave them the 1-0 lead early. Then less than 30 seconds later, Ashlyn Williams would put in goal number two.
Goal number three came in at 8:01 of the first half, compliments of Kayla Yang, pushing the score to 3-0. South Granville’s defense cleaned up for a little while, but the Horses wouldn’t be denied the net. Coming in at the 26:42 mark after a high pop-up, Shakira Aguillar put in another shot close to goal on a header to end the first half scoring, the Horses up 4-0.
The game completely slowed down in the second half, with no scoring until late. Bailey Spell would get the last Horses goal at 71:53 after beating the goal keeper on a penalty kick.
Williams also had two assists. Yang and Olivia Williford each had one.
Friday’s shutout win was Clinton’s second of the playoffs following their 9-0 win over East Montgomery in the opening round. Clinton, the No. 3 seed in the 2A East bracket, will take the field again on Wednesday for the third round. They will meet No. 11-seed Currituck County, which pulled a 3-1 upset over No. 6-seed Trinity. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
