ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The women of Asheville City jumped on the board early and then rode a huge second-half offensive outburst to thrash Tennessee SC 6-1 and move to the top of the South Central Division table at Greenwood Field.
Tennessee got the first real chance of the game 10 minutes in, when a floating ball hurtled toward a Tennessee forward who laced a volley to the right of Gaby Rourke, who made a nice save to keep things tied.
Five minutes later, the Blues hopped on the board courtesy of Emma Sheehan. Caitlin Conroy played a beautiful ball with the outside of her foot from the right half-space that played Sheehan in behind the defense. Sheehan capped the move with a beautiful finish, and the Blues were off and running, up 1-0.
Eight minutes after the opener, the Blues doubled their lead. Yuliia Khrystiuk placed a cross into the box that a Tennessee defender got to first, but they botched the clearance and the ball landed to Lucie Bertrand, who calmly blasted the rebound into the right side of the goal to put the Blues up 2-0.
In the 30th minute, the Blues were inches away from making it three when chaos in the box resulted in the ball rolling on the goal line, but a Tennessee defender was able to boot it away and keep TSC within two.
Two minutes after the goal-line clearance, Tennessee pulled back within one via a beautiful strike from Miki Hayashi.
Sheehan came centimeters away from a brace in the 38th minute, when a beautifully-placed cross from Phoebe Hollin found the feet of Sheehan in the middle of the box. She tried directing it first time toward the far post, but the chance rolled just wide.
Things headed into the half with Asheville leading 2-1.
While the first half was a fairly even match with the two teams trading chances, the Blues came out firing in the second half and blew the game wide open.
In the 47th minute, Khrystiuk sent a long, winding cross into the mixer that evaded defenders and found the head of Gry Boe Thrysoe, who directed it on frame, forcing a save from the Tennessee keeper to keep things within one.
However, 2 minutes later, the Blues found their third. Khrystiuk took a cornerkick from the right side and placed it beautifully on the corner of the near side of the 6-yard box to a waiting Lucia Flores, who was able to re-direct the ball and squeeze it between the post and the keeper to put Asheville ahead 3-1.
Ten minutes later, the Blues increased their advantage to three. Khrystiuk whipped in a freekick from the right side that popped out of the Tennessee keeper’s hands to Thrysoe, who put it away to increase the Blues’ advantage to 4-1.
The offensive onslaught did not stop there, as in the 67th minute, the Blues drew a penalty. Phoebe Hollin stepped up to take the PK and blasted it past the keeper and into the upper right corner to put the women in Blue up 5-1.
Khrystiuk, who had three assists on the night, added a goal to her tally as well when Kelly Gordon passed the ball to her inside the box. Khrystiuk dribbled and lost possession to a TSC defender whose clearance bounced off of a teammate and fell back to Khrystiuk, who powered it home and put the Blues up 6-1, which is how the match finished.
Rachel Logue was awarded the Noble Cider Player of the Match award for her efforts in the match.
With the win, the Blues now sit atop the South Central Division, having earned 13 points in five games while still boasting an undefeated 4-0-1 record. They have scored 14 goals while only allowing four and have three cleansheets on the season, a testament to the full team effort on display each match from the Women in Blue.
The women now head on the road for three games, starting in Atlanta against Southern Soccer Academy before returning home on June 15 to take on Chattanooga. Buy tickets here.