B

It was a tale of two halves for the Morristown West girls soccer team on Thursday night as they took on Pigeon Forge.

Down 4-0 just five minutes into the second half, the Lady Trojans fought back. A goal from Banesa Hernandez in the 77th minute brought the Lady Trojans within one with three minutes on the clock. Unfortunately they ran out of time, falling to the Tigers 4-3, bringing their record to 3-5-1 on the year.

“I’m proud of the perseverance that they showed,” West head coach Emily Bryant said. “We’ve been trying to piece together a full 80 minutes, but I think that they know that they were probably the better team in terms of possession and opportunities go, and sometimes soccer is just unlucky and it’s cruel. But I’m really proud of the grit that they showed in the second half.”

Possession was fairly even in the first half, but Pigeon Forge was able to convert on each of their three first half goals in the span of twelve minutes.

The first came off of a broken goal kick in the 19th minute, the second from a corner in the 29th and the third from a penalty kick awarded to Pigeon Forge on a hand-ball in the 31st.

West controlled the midfield, but struggled in the boxes.

Following the early second half goal from the Tigers, the Lady Trojans played with a sense of urgency.

Hernandez, who normally plays center back for West, was in a defensive midfield position and made things happen from box to box.

She broke through for her first of two goals in the 49th minute, a shot from outside the box that sailed over the keeper’s outstretched arms.

“Banesa is a leader. She plays with heart, she plays with passion every single game, but the thing I love most about her is that she brings this team together,” Bryant said. “She always pushes them to be their best, so it’s always awesome to see a kid like that put it in the net.”

Following that goal, it was the Dory Georges show. Whether in the midfield, on the wing, or at striker, Georges applied constant pressure to the Pigeon Forge defense.

“Mark 14, stay on 14,” Bill Moseley repeated from the sideline for much of the second half, imploring his team to contain Georges.

She created five really solid looks at the goal between the 50th and 70th minute, and finally broke through in the 73rd to cut the lead to 4-2.

Georges has been nursing a knee injury for the past couple of weeks that forced her to come off with five minutes to play, and Hernandez took matters into her own hands, converting her second goal of the day in similar fashion to her first to bring the Lady Trojans within one with three minutes to play.

It was a brilliant second half performance from West, one that coach Bryant hopes they can piece together for a full 80 going forward.

“We just have to be better at putting together full halves,” Bryant said. “Whether it’s being tired or being lazy, I think we’re just trying to piece together pushing through being tired, pushing through being down, and just pushing ourselves over that hump.”

District play kicks off for West next Thursday, as they host Sevier County. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m.

“Next week we have our first district game, so we really have to bring that kind of grit and heart that we showed in that second half into that next game. It’s really just about putting it all together,” Bryant said.