Owens, Lady Warhawks dominate Raiders

If Khayla Owens misses the soccer goal five times in a row, she will shoot five more times … and make all five.

Southeast Whitfield had no chance of stopping Veterans High’s senior striker, who scored three times in three minutes and five overall Tuesday when the Lady Warhawks crushed the visiting Raiders from Dalton 6-0. That put the unbeaten Veterans girls, under first-year head coach Haley Walker, into a much anticipated Elite 8 meeting in the GHSA AAAA tournament with No. 1 Marist.

(That match took place Friday in Atlanta. Veterans and Marist played for the AAAA championship last season.)

The Lady Warhawks were in so much control of Southeast Whitfield that freshman goalkeeper Victoria Moore only had to play the ball two times in the first half – one time early and the other time late.

For the first five minutes, though, Veterans had no shots on goal, and Katie Luque and Jada Foor answered their challenges for Walker’s defense.

Owens began to work with fellow seniors Savannah Smith, Erin Aler and Taylor Craig to pressure the Lady Raiders. Her initial results would be labeled ‘unlucky,’ and Smith herself – from passes by Janeyce Brown and Owens – was denied on a slide by the visiting keeper at the 33-minute mark.

Two minutes later, Foor, she of the powerful set-piece kicking leg, intercepted Southeast’s free kick with an onside lead to Owens. She and Brown were on the run, but Owens couldn’t find the correct angle on her shot. Craig won Southeast’s next 50-50 free kick and passed off to Owens, who again shot wide at 29:45.

Owens found that standing in the middle of the penalty box and not being concerned with angles produced much better results. All she had to do, at 27:40, was get the ball from Brown and Smith, make the goalkeeper move and she had her first goal.

It only took the Lady Raiders eight seconds from the kickoff to push towards Moore on the opposite end and get their best shot of the half. That attempt, however, was way over both Moore’s reach and the net.

In just over a minute following that action, Aler controlled the ball at midfield, found Craig on the left side, and it was another ‘no-contest’ move by Owens in the middle. Veterans was up 2-0 at 26:15.

With 25:20 remaining, Aler assisted Owens, who found a good angle to shoot, on the third straight goal. Walker would then rest Owens. Foor, Sarah Lucas, Erin Reid and Callie Bailey proceeded to play strong defense in preserving the shutout.

Continuing the offensive attacks for Veterans were Mahalia Laguines and Breanna Gomez. Laguines’ rushed down the left side for a pass in to Gomez, but her shot was stopped (22:20). The Lady Warhawk lead went to 4-0 when Smith won 50-50, Gomez passed from the middle to the right side to Craig, and she connected on a near parallel cross at 16:53.

The first Veterans corner kick didn’t happen until 8:35. Owens was back in the flow at this time, and she stole Southeast’s ensuing throw-in, crossed the ball to Brown, but her shot was denied.

Laguines, as the clock wound down to 15 seconds, beat her marking defender on the left wing but shot wide of the goal.

Early in the second half, senior Anna Jeffords set up Craig to make an onside lead to Owens. The Raider keeper slid to beat her to the ball at 36:25. While Southeast won that battle, Owens eventually settled the ball amid a crowd of defenders, went on the break and scored for 5-0.

Owens and Craig tried to set up Smith at 31:15, but her shot was saved. Owens’ constant pressure, though, led to some ricochet action with the keeper, and that put the final point on the board, 6-0, at 30:46.

Laguines and Nyanni Ward kept on charging the net making more work for the keeper, who saved a corner-kick effort at 19:24. Ward shot wide from a Gomez crossing pass at the 18-minute mark, and Gomez had an 18-yard blast caught at 14:45.

Moore came through on her first real challenge in the second half 20 seconds later. She made catch on a low free kick from about 30 yards away (11:50) and leapt for a grab as time moved under 10 minutes.

Brown and Gomez did some fine dribbling work that forced a leg save at 4:30. As Veterans took the corner kick, Brianna Wacome used her head for a shot saved. One more chance for Veterans was denied at the three-minute mark, this on Laguines’ pass outside to Brown.

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