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Lady Bearcats make it to third round for first time since 2009

Hendersonville's Shannon Reeves (16) tries to get possession of the ball during a playoff match against Bishop McGuinness at HHS on Monday. (Photo by PATRICK SULLIVAN/ TIMES-NEWS)

   With the wind blowing against them in Monday's makeup 1-A playoff match at Dietz Field, Hendersonville had trouble getting its scoring going but managed the shutout over Bishop McGuinness, 3-0, to advance to Wednesday's third round.

   It will be the first time since 2009 that the Lady Bearcats have made it to the third round of the playoffs.

   "This is really big for us," said HHS coach Freddy Oviedo. "Bishop McGuinness is a good team. We did a good job scouting them and marking their key players, and we did well playing that right side with Shannon Reeves."

   It was Tamia Smith who first put Hendersonville in the positive on an up-field assist from Marietta Melendez. Smith drove up the field and just before a Lady Villain defender could take the ball off her feet, Smith sent a left-footed shot up and over the goalie's reach in the 29th minute.

   HHS goalkeeper Madison Gold and sweeper Anna Huntley held down the fort in the back for Hendersonville despite several close calls in the first half.

   "Anna Huntley was our player of the game. She directed traffic back there on defense for us to get the shutout again," Oviedo said. "(Bishop) played three forwards the entire time but they couldn't get their momentum going; we shut them down."

   It took just a minute-and-a-half after the first second-half whistle for the Lady Bearcats to effectively push the ball up front again. On that right side, center midfielder Julia Michels sent a perfect ground pass to Reeves, who made a few touches before blasting the ball to the top goal post from where it bounced hard into the goal for the 2-0 lead.

   Reeves had several key touches on the ball after that that should've gone down in the books as assists and given the Lady Bearcats six or seven goals on the shutout, but three would have to do.

   In the 61st minute Alison Hafner finished things off, thanks to an assist from Jenny Mosier and a wide-open field right in front of the Bishop McGuinness goal.

   As Oviedo foreshadowed last week, the Lady Bearcats will be facing conference-nemesis Thomas Jefferson on Wednesday in the third round as they continue their playoff romp.

   The Lady Gryphons (13-8-1), a wild card, took Hendersonville (18-3-2) to overtime just a couple of weeks ago. They aren't just a conference foe, though, as they knocked HHS out of the playoffs last year.

   "The girls know what we need to do," Oviedo said, looking ahead to Wednesday. "The pressure is mostly on (Thomas Jefferson), especially if we play like we did (Monday)."