Soccer: Gainesville girls respond at half, pull away vs. Apalachee

GAINESVILLE -- The Gainesville girls had the lead, but after a frustrating first half, the Lady Red Elephants knew they needed a change.

Thanks to Anna Youmans, they got it.

Dropping Youmans back from her forward position into midfield -- where she joined Mary-Catherine Dempsey and Margaret Carpenter in battling for possession -- coach Mark Wade provided both stability and a more dangerous attack, as Gainesville scored three second half goals to pull away from Apalachee 4-1 at City Park.

“They were outnumbering us in center midfield, and dropping Anna back really settled us,” Wade said. “Apalachee didn’t let us get away with anything tonight and really tested us.”

Lady Red Elephants striker Hartley Carter certainly enjoyed the halftime adjustment, scoring two crucial second half goals to finish with a hat trick for the contest.

“The first half was very frustrating; in the second half we felt more confident,” Carter said. “That switch gave us a lot of help.”

Diana Linares added the other strike of the contest for Gainesville (7-1-1, 3-0 Region 8-AAAAA), which got the aid of mother nature in the process after Linares lifted a hopeful shot toward the Apalachee goal -- a bouncing effort that got caught in the light of the setting sun and froze Lady Wildcats goalkeeper Victoria Cochran, who could not react in time.

Apalachee (4-5, 1-3) responded with an impressive strike from Kate Winegarner, who whipped a 20-yard shot into the Gainesville net with 8:53 remaining, but the score came too late to derail the Lady Red Elephants -- who have won four straight contests since a 1-1 draw with North Oconee on Feb. 26.

“We’re off to a really good start, but we’ve got a really big stretch of games coming up for us,” Wade said. “We’ve responded well to the new region we’re in too. We’re still kind of in culture shock, because these girls are used to playing against teams and players they know. Right now it’s all new. But we’ve really played well through that.”

The Lady Red Elephants will face Winder-Barrow on the road on Friday, followed by a key showdown with more familiar for Flowery Branch on March 28.