Sanderson girls’ soccer clicks in mercy-rule win against Rolesville
Despite the team’s success this season, offense has been an issue for the Sanderson girls’ soccer team.
That wasn’t the case on Thursday, however, as Ana Sheridan netted a hat trick to help the visiting Spartans cruise to a mercy rule-shortened 9-0 victory over Rolesville in a nonconference match.
Six other players scored a goal each for Cap-8 Conference member Sanderson (9-4-3), including the finale from Amy Clemmons from the right side of the box with 16 minutes, 12 seconds remaining that put an end to the proceedings.
Sanderson had scored a total of 14 goals over its previous 10 games but found its way against Greater Neuse River Conference member Rolesville (2-14), which lost its fifth straight.
“We’ve been struggling on offense all year,” Sanderson coach Todd Worley said. “It’s gotten better, so it was good to get an opportunity for some runs moving forward. Most of our goals have be on set pieces this season or re-starts, so to have a lot of goals in the play meant a lot for this group.”
Sheridan scored the first goal, knocking in a rebound with 30:55 remaining in the first half, to put Sanderson ahead. Grace Densmore made it 2-0 when a corner kick bounced past several defenders and somehow found its way to the wide-open sophomore in front of the Rolesville net. She easily boot it past Rams goalie Larden Garland with 22:31 left.
Virginia Blake and Katie Crawford added goals later in the first half to stake Sanderson to a 4-0 lead.
They said it
“We have a strong defense but getting the ball in the net has probably been our biggest problem,” Sheridan said. “So these games allow us to work on different techniques and different ways we can score. The better goals we score will give us better chances to win tougher games later on.”
Three to know
Ana Sheridan, Sanderson: She got things going early offensively with the first goal, then had a pair of goals to start in the second half to set in motion the early end to the match.
Virginia Blake, Sanderson: She scored a goal, and nearly cashed in on a number of other opportunities as Rolesville defenders had their hands full trying to slow her.
Katie Crawford, Sanderson: She tallied a goal and two assists. She had a nice through ball to set up Blake’s goal and then an impressive cross from the right side early in the second half to lead Sheridan to an easy goal.
By the numbers
0: Shots on goal by Rolesville.
7: Players to score at least one goal for Sanderson.
37: Span in seconds between Sanderson’s first two goals of the second half.
This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 9:29 PM with the headline "Sanderson girls’ soccer clicks in mercy-rule win against Rolesville."