CCS, Signal girls play to 1-1 tie

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog
photo Signal Mountain's Olivia Samples and Chattanooga Christian's Kyla Bandy chase the ball Tuesday at Signal Mountain High School.

Both the Chattanooga Christian and Signal Mountain girls' soccer teams have something to be pleased about this morning. They also have reasons to be disappointed.

They battled to a 1-all tie Tuesday at Signal Mountain in a District 7-A/AA match. It was an opportunity to get a leg up in a district that usually comes down to them and Notre Dame, but neither was able to take advantage.

The teams played well, and both had their moments. Signal (4-2-2, 0-0-1) had the better possession in the first half, with three shots on goal -- the most dangerous being a Laney Locke shot that just missed from in close.

The Lady Chargers (3-3-4, 0-0-1) had only shot on goal in the half, a try by Hannah Henry that sailed high. But they had a solid start to the second half, peppering shots from all angles.

"It's a hard field on play on, and we had a tough time catching on," CCS coach Cal Sneller said. "Signal plays with high pressure, and we had difficulty with that, but the girls kept going and never gave up."

CCS took the lead when Henry made a long lead pass to Sara Farlett, who outran the Signal defense and nailed a low-sailing shot that found the net for a 1-0 advantage.

It was a lead CCS would enjoy for about 20 minutes, until Signal freshman Avery Engels rifled a shot through to even things out.

"I think we were a little nervous, but we are better than we were last year, and better than we were two weeks ago," Signal coach Richard Northcutt said. "It was a big game, and we didn't relax and weren't able to pass out of trouble.

"This group is rising -- we're still young -- and overall I thought we did OK."

Each team had dangerous chances that were saved. Farlett had another shot that Signal's Paige Maloney got a foot on and saved; later in the half, a header by Riley Engels was knocked out by a CCS defender right at the goal line.

Signal keeper Natalie McCarter made five saves, while CCS keeper Avery Boulware was credited with four.

The Lady Chargers will be home next Tuesday against Notre Dame, which hosts Signal on Sept. 30.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.

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