Reeve Carroll squared her hips, swung her leg and drove the soccer ball in front of her hard into the turf, sending it rocketing into the air.
When the big bounce landed, it removed a decade of frustration.
The Wolverines didn’t know that at the time. They just knew that Carroll’s goal had given them a 1-0 lead over Hendersonville with just 2:05 to play in the first half. Then they went and made it stand up, with the 1-0 final the first win for the Wolverines over the Bearcats since 2016.
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Hendersonville (9-1, 5-1) largely dominated the run of play in the first half, but came away with nothing. The Bearcats missed a couple of good chances, but they were turned away time after time by Cate Brown and the Polk County defense. Polk County coach Lennox Charles said he knew that his squad would have to play well defensively.
“It’s one of those things that I told them yesterday in practice, we were going to have to do a lot of defending,” Charles said. “So when we get the ball, we needed to try to keep it. We were struggling a little physically as the game went on. We haven’t been very efficient. Today, we didn’t get a lot of clear chances. But we took advantage of what we had, and sometimes that’s what it takes.
Polk County (6-1-4, 5-0-1) nearly added to the lead with just seconds to play in the first, just missing a couple of point-blank chances. The Wolverines kept the pressure up in the second half, as a breakaway opportunity went awry at the 28:45 mark, and a corner kick resulted in a chance that went wide at 21:50.
Then Hendersonville turned up the pressure, and Brown stood on her head. She had a save at the 16:35 mark, another at 15:30 to play, and yet another at 9:40. Hendersonville hit the post with a try at 8:45, and Brown had two saves in the final three minutes to preserve the clean sheet – and the victory.
“Cate’s had two years as a starter now, and she’s able to raise her level in important games,” Charles said. “Not everybody can do it. When you get to the important times they get nervous, they get a little timid, they get unsure.
“She’s able to raise her level. And she was on today. She was completely focused. She was clean, she was solid and she was aggressive.”
