SOCCER: Wolverines pull away late to down Cavaliers
Published 12:10 pm Wednesday, April 10, 2024
- Polk County's Cate Brown teamed with Maggie Johnson to limit East Rutherford to a single goal in Tuesday's win
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Tuesday proved a pretty good day for Caroline Taylor.
The Polk County senior signed a letter-of-intent to play soccer at Spartanburg Methodist, then scored two goals to help lead the Wolverines to a 4-1 victory over East Rutherford in a Mountain Foothills 7 Conference match in Bostic.
The two teams battled to a 1-1 tie at halftime. East Rutherford struck first before Taylor evened the score late in the first half, taking a pass from Charley Dusenbury and striking a high drive from just outside the top of the penalty area that curled away from the goalkeeper and into the left corner of the net.
The match remained tied until the final 17 minutes of the second half. Polk tallied the go-ahead goal on a heads-up play by Elena Carroll, who took a pass from Jessica Baird and flipped the ball into the penalty area. An East Rutherford defender deflected the ball away from the goal, but back into the path of Carroll, who held off another defender and drilled a shot from point-blank range to give the Wolverines the lead.
Polk added to the margin less than two minutes later. Kylie Lewis gained possession near midfield and looked to drop a pass to teammate Gabby Savaia. An East Rutherford defender knocked away the pass, but into open space toward the Cavalier goal. Savaia outran an East defender, took one touch and then struck a low line drive just inside the left post, upping the Wolverine edge to 3-1.
Taylor then capped the scoring with 6:50 remaining, snaring a loose ball at the top of the penalty box and sending home a low rolling drive into the right side of the net.
Polk County is slated to be back in action on Thursday, traveling to Brevard. The Blue Devils suffered a 2-0 loss Tuesday to Hendersonville for their first defeat of the season.