Green Hope girls soccer blows by Holly Springs on Camryn Dixon’s big night

Even though Green Hope returned most of its girls soccer team, it would be hard to recognize this group from a year ago. With another year together and another season working with coach Stacy Lamb, the Falcons went from a pretty good team to a team that’s able to put halves together like they did on Wednesday.

With nifty passing and cohesive teamwork, Green Hope scored four goals in the first half en route to a 4-2 victory against Holly Springs.

“We’re used to playing with each other because we play at club and everything... We all just combine well together to get into the final third,” sophomore Grace Wagner said. “I think this was our best game. We came in very relaxed and very composed and we were very confident in ourselves.”

Green Hope (6-1-2, 6-1-1) scored all its goals by the 31st minute, leaving Holly Springs (5-5-2, 3-4-2) in the dust by halftime. Camryn Dixon, a freshman, had a hand in all four – one goal and three assists.

“Now we’re in a rhythm where we’ll play her up top for a little while and then drop her back to central midfield because she’s so effective running at people,” Lamb said. “By pulling her a little bit further away from the goal, she’s able to really go at people and create.”

Turning point

Dixon took on three Golden Hawks defenders and got by each one before powering a shot into the upper 90 on the far side to make it 3-0 in the 25th minute.

They said it

“You can’t expect to go out against a good team like Green Hope and just play and win. You have to work for it, you’ve got to earn it. We did that for 40 minutes and then decided to put in an effort. It may not have been pretty, but if you do that the whole game at least it’s a game.” – Holly Springs coach Brian Miller.

Three to know

Camryn Dixon, Green Hope: By putting Dixon further back in the formation, she got to take more Holly Springs players one-on-one, which worked out nicely. She assisted to Anna Bevan in the 6th minute, to Grace Wagner in the 11th, scored in the 25th and got another assist to Nicole Colberg in the 31st.

Izzy Brown, Green Hope: Green Hope’s other freshman starter led the defense with her play at defensive midfielder, forcing dispossessions and getting the ball back quickly to other Falcons players.

Andie O’Connell, Holly Springs: Hammered home a rebound in the 58th minute to give the Golden Hawks some life. Sarah Frost had the Hawks’ last goal in the 63rd minute on a scrum after a long free kick by Kelli Hays.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 11:15 AM with the headline "Green Hope girls soccer blows by Holly Springs on Camryn Dixon’s big night."