Evans clips Lakeside in region battle

Lakeside wasn't the only obstacle for the Evans girls soccer team Thursday night in the two teams' annual matchup.

History was also against the Lady Knights, whose seniors had never experienced a win against the talented Lady Panthers.

Neither Lakeside nor history succeeded Thursday night. Evans overcame its winless streak against Lakeside and won 4-3 in a shootout at Evans.

The victory, Evans' 11th of the year, came in a game that saw stellar play on both sides of the field.

"I've never had so much adrenaline pumping through me at a soccer game," Evans coach Troy Willard said. "This just shows you how good all the girls are. If you put all three schools (Evans, Lakeside and Greenbrier) together, we'd win the state championship every year."

The outstanding plays began quickly Thursday night. Lakeside junior Caitlin Clark lofted a shot from outside of the penalty box less than two minutes into the game. The shot was high enough to avoid the reach of Evans goalkeeper Janay Moore, but low enough to get under the cross bar for a 1-0 Lakeside lead.

Evans responded less than three minutes later when sophomore Emily Belchyk scored on a rebound to tie the game.

The two teams traded goals once more in the first half, including a Morgan Fordham header off a corner kick from Renee Redington to go to halftime tied at 2.

"I thought it would be close for the first 20 minutes of the game," Lakeside coach Chris Newman said. "It was the same thing that happened against Harlem. We outshot them 13-5 in the first half but were still tied."

The tie was unbroken for nearly 10 minutes in the second half when Lakeside took its second lead of the game on an Ashley Wray goal that looped over the head of Moore and bounced into the net.

Evans sophomore Tarah Henderson scored her second goal of the game after beating the Lakeside defense with 12:49 left for a 3-3 tie.

Neither team converted in a pair of five-minute overtime periods. In a 10-shot shootout that followed, the teams were still tied after nine shots. The tenth attempt came off the foot of Evans senior Rachel Pendergrast.

"It was one of the most nerve-wracking things I've ever done," Pendergrast said.

Pendergrast overcame her nerves and fired a shot into the back of the net to break the tie and give Evans a 4-3 win.

The win kept Evans' chances at a regular season Region 2-AAAA title alive. With one region game remaining, the Lady Knights are in a tie for second place with Lakeside. Both teams hold a 5-1 region record.

Greenbrier, the region's No. 1 team, is still undefeated in region play but has yet to face Lakeside and Evans in region competition.

If Evans beats Greenbrier, the Lady Knights would claim at least a Region 2-AAAA regular season co-championship.

Pendergrast said beating Greenbrier is a real possibility.

"Now that we've won this game, they're going to be a little worried," she said.

Evans will play at Greenbrier at 5:30 p.m. April 13.