Deerfield-Windsor girls outduel Lee County in weather-shortened soccer game

ALBANY — Parker Morgan’s timing was impeccable Thursday night.

Morgan scored just minutes before a rapidly darkening sky opened up and the lightning detector went off at Darton State College, sending players and fans srambling for shelter.

The goal gave the Lady Knights a weather-shortened 2-1 victory against the Lee County Lady Trojans in a nonregion game. The detector sounded with 22:51 left in the game.

The win makes Deerfield-Windsor 7-1 on the season. The Lady Knights’ next game is scheduled for April 2 at Colquitt County.

“It was a great game to play,” Lee County coach Dave Baltenberger said. “For Lee County to get to play Deerfield is great for the community and great for soccer. It was a fun game.”

Lee County opened the scoring when Mackenzie Taylor found the back of the net.

“The first half, Lee outworked us and they were unlucky,” Deerfield-Windsor coach Aly Joslin said. “They probably should have had some more chances. They definitely had the better first half. We panicked a bit and we didn’t play to our strength.”

Deerfield did not trail for long. The Lady Knights answered back when Rachel Sullivan got one past the goalie to knot the game at one. It stayed that until the second half.

“We were lucky to strike back quickly,” Joslin said. “The second half, we did what we had to do. We started playing a little bit better.”

The Lady Knights had the first scoring chance of the second half, but that attemped was thwarted. Not long after that, Morgan found the back of the net as she snuck one inside the right post for what was the eventual game-winner.

Lee County’s Hannah Schroeder had a chance to tie it again, but the attempt failed. That was the Lady Trojans’ only attempt of the weather-shortened second half.

The boys’ game, which was scheduled for 7:30, was cancelled due to the weather. A makeup game will be played, but the date has not been decided. It will likely be played on April 9 or April 16.