Eighth-ranked Polk takes care of Avery with 4-2 victory

Wins like Thursday’s triumph over T.C. Roberson are helping Polk County’s girls soccer squad build its reputation this season.

Victories like Monday’s 4-2 defeat of Avery County, though, may truly show just how good this edition of the Wolverines could be.

Eighth-ranked Polk didn’t deliver its best performance on Monday, but still dominated the Vikings much of the game en route to a fourth straight win, this one a Western Highlands Conference victory at Wolverine Stadium.

Polk County (5-2, 3-0) scored two goals in each half and could easily have added two more in each. The Wolverines were able to constantly push the ball into Avery’s half of the field, with Ellese Cash and Sammie Firby often making runs through the Viking defense to set up scoring chances.

“I thought we played OK,” said Polk County head coach Lennox Charles. “We had little spurts when I thought we were pretty good.

“It didn’t feel like we had any energy. Especially in the second half, the energy was flat. I don’t know if it was an extra day off or us feeling too good about ourselves. But it was a conference win and a good win.”

Lyric Flood gave Polk its first score, knocking home a penalty kick around the 26-minute mark after an Avery handball in the box. Some 10 minutes later, Polk scored again as Kayla McEntire stuck home a loose ball in the box following a corner kick.

Megan Clements narrowly missed adding another Polk goal with slightly more than eight minutes left in the half when she blasted a shot over the crossbar. Clements also ripped a drive off the crossbar in the second half, narrowly missing a goal on a shot that jarred the goal a couple of inches.

But Clements did score early in the second half, netting a short goal following a Flood corner kick. Polk County scored its final goal with 19:50 remaining as Szonja Pinter dribbled nearly half the field before serving a beautiful pass ahead to Ellese Cash, who outraced a defender and the Avery goalkeeper to the ball and pushed it past the keeper into the net.

Avery scored twice in the final six minutes.

“We did a pretty decent job finishing considering some of the opportunities we got,” Charles said.

Polk County is scheduled to be back in action Tuesday, traveling to Shelby for a non-conference game at 5:30 p.m.