Wolverines continue late-season surge, ground Eagles in home finale

Someone suggested Tuesday that Polk County’s girls soccer team should quickly look to line up 10 more games, and without doubt head coach Lennox Charles would fully agree.

The Wolverines have found a playing groove, continuing their recent solid play on Tuesday with a 6-2 thumping of East Henderson in Polk’s final home match of the season.

Caroline Taylor and Lauren Dotson each scored two goals for Polk County (5-13-2), and while a rebuilding East Henderson (2-17) may not have offered the toughest of challenges, the Wolverines still quickly took care of matters, scoring three times in the first 20 minutes and building a 6-0 lead before East added two late goals.

Polk’s regular-season finale Wednesday at Owen will offer a much better test of the Wolverines’ late-season improvement and one final chance to start building for next spring.

“You at least want to be playing well at the end of the year and have some positive momentum going into the offseason,” Charles said. “Our season has not been what we wanted, but for our returning people, ending with some momentum and playing well at the end will encourage them to play on.”

Taylor and Dotson each scored early before defender Anna Jackson took a penalty kick in the 21st minute and placed that just inside the left post for a 3-0 advantage.

Jamilett Ramirez added to Polk’s tally shortly before halftime when she curled a corner kick into the net for a 4-0 lead.

Dotson scored again two minutes into the second half before Taylor closed the scoring with a high arcing drive from deep on the left wing, well outside the penalty area, that dipped just under the crossbar.

Lorena Salazar and AJ Vera each scored in the final 20 minutes for East Henderson.