MARYVILLE – Maryville made it full-circle from last year's heartbreak to put both hands on the Collegiate Conference of the South Women's Soccer Championship trophy.
The Scots were ready to grab it in 2022, only to be denied in penalty kicks at Piedmont. This time on home turf, Maryville played its way past a determined Covenant squad 2-1 in double overtime Saturday in a terrific match for both sides.
Maryville's
Sierra Lee slotted home the game-winner (pictured below) in the 97th minute.
Madison McDonald played the ball ahead to Lee and the junior forward fired low and firm just inside the left post from about 15 yards.
Chase Takes MVP
The home Scots then had to withstand 13 more minutes of Covenant pressure, and they did without allowing a single shot attempt.
Chloe Chase in the defensive midfield and defender
Alex Smith joined Lee on the All-Tournament Team, with Chase taking home MVP honors.
"I got switched back to defensive mid halfway through the season, and I just really took to it," said Chase, a sophomore from Knoxville. "We knew we could come back from that early goal. We kept the energy high and kept pushing. In the overtime, it was just play our game and we will finish one of the corners, one of the crosses, and get it in the net.
"And that's what we did."
Lee's goal was her team-leading 12th of the season, ranking second in the conference. She scored in both the semifinal win over Piedmont and in Saturday's championship game victory, joining first-year
Sadie Phelan with that distinction.
"It was two contradicting styles, and we thought our ability to move the ball across the field and open up gaps would eventually get them," Maryville head coach
Pepe Fernandez said. "I thought we might get them a little bit earlier, but we had great ball movement to open a gap for the freshman to drive one in there, and then we found one of the best scores in the country and Sierra was able to slot it."
The Phelan Microwave – She Heats Up Quickly
Phelan was instant offense for the second match in a row. Called onto the pitch in the 39th minute, the Mt. Juliet product scored just 43 seconds later for her ninth goal of the season.
Katie O'Brien fired across the penalty box to
Katie Corley, who rifled a pass into Phelan for the 5-yard conversion.
"
Sadie Phelan scoring in the semifinals and then today deserves a lot of credit," Fernandez said. "Our defense deserves a lot of credit. And over the past three weeks,
Chloe Chase was one of our best players. She wasn't able to make All-Conference but now she's the tournament MVP, and we could not be happier."
Covenant snapped Maryville's streak of 552 minutes without allowing a goal to a CCS opponent when Emma Riggs stopped a clearance attempt and fired calmly into the upper left corner from 20 yards in just the fourth minute of play. Maryville had not allowed a goal to a league foe since Huntingdon scored late in an 8-1 Scots victory back on Oct. 7.
Both Maryville's
Sophie Turner and Covenant's Lucy Sandhoff made five saves in the match. Shots favored Maryville 22-7, as did corner kicks 10-1.
All-Tournament Team
The All-Tournament Team consisted of Sierra Judson of Piedmont; Kyla Shaw of Belhaven; Riley Amell and Addie Gamache from Covenant; and Chase (MVP), Lee and Smith from Maryville.
The Scots outscored their CCS foes 56-3 this season, and Covenant scored two of those three! It was a 14-1 Maryville advantage in the three matches of the CCS tournament.
Maryville now awaits its fate for the NCAA tournament. This is Year 2 of a two-year waiting period for the CCS to get automatic bids, so the Scots are looking to snag an at-large bid. Selections take place Monday at 1:30 p.m. and can be seen on NCAA.com.
