Photo by Ginny Byrd
Farragut’s Katie Beuerlein (7) moves the ball past Beardens\’s Riley Strickland (10), Emily Mayfield (12) and Andi Kur (27) in the Lady Admirals’ 6-1 victory over the Lady Bulldogs Thursday night in Farragut.

By Ken Lay

The season has been full of offensive struggles for the Farragut High School girls soccer team but things finally clicked for the Lady Admirals Thursday night.

And the timing couldn’t have been better. Farragut’s attack didn’t sputter and the result was a 6-1 victory over rival Bearden in a District 4-AAA match at the Farragut Soccer Stadium.

The Lady Admirals (7-1-3 overall, 2-0-2 in the district) nabbed a signature league victory they sorely needed and the offensive barrage began early when senior midfielder Joanda Parchman promptly buried a shot in the back of the Lady Bulldogs’ net just 30 seconds into the contest.

Farragut, Tennessee’s sixth-ranked team, entered the game with a sense of desperation. The Lady Admirals tied their first two district matches against Hardin Valley and Maryville before beating Lenoir City.

“We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole with two ties,” Farragut coach Dennis Lindsay said. “We had to have this game.

“Bearden is a good team. They’re ranked No. 3 in the state.”

The Lady Bulldogs, who suffered their first district loss Thursday, certainly didn’t look like State Title contenders against Farragut.

“We got beat by a better team tonight,” Bearden coach Eric Turner said after watching his team fall to 11-2-1 overall and 4-1 in District 4-AAA. “They were ready to play and we weren’t.

“They were prepared to play and they scored off three corner kicks.”

Farragut’s Emma Jeter scored the game’s next two markers. Her goals came 14 minutes apart. She scored in the 23rd minute and added her second tally in the 37th to give the Lady Admirals the 3-0 advantage that they enjoyed at halftime.

Farragut remained hot after the break. The Lady Admirals scored in the 43rd minute when Katie Beuerlein chipped in a corner kick from Parchman, who was celebrating her 18th birthday.

Farragut took a 5-0 lead when Katie Cloud scored four minutes later.

The Lady Bulldogs scored their lone goal of the match from Casey Riemer in the 48th minute.

Cloud, a senior forward and defender, closed the scoring in the 68th minute when she took a pass from K.C. Ward and put into the net for the Lady Admirals, who have reached the State Tournament in each of the last two seasons.