Nation Ford rallies twice to beat Rock Hill

A two-goal effort from Nation Ford freshman forward Makayla Garner led the Falcons to a 3-2 win over the Rock Hill Bearcats to break the seal on the Region III soccer schedule.

Both teams were looking for their first win. The Falcons are now 1-2-2 on the season.

Early in the season, the Falcons struggled to get their offense started, scoring just two goals in four games while giving up five goals during that opening-season stretch. The offensive unbalance was remedied before facing Rock Hill. Twice Nation Ford rallied to get the lead, both times off the swift feet of Garner.

“I was proud of how they responded,” Falcons head coach Megan Williams said. “It is easy to drop your head when you get scored against. We were using all the games prior to this to get ready for region play.”

Both teams fought early on to control possession and each had an early shot on goal though neither could find the net.

In fighting for possession, neither team controlled the ball for long. As the first half wore on, the Bearcats led in time of possession, but the Nation Ford defense was strong enough to keep Rock Hill from scoring.

With about 9:30 left in the first half, Rock Hill cracked the scoreboard with a goal from senior Marley Landrum to give the visiting Bearcats a short-lived lead. Nation Ford came back to score less than two minutes later on a shot from junior midfielder Madi Gleason to tie the game at 1-1.

Within the final two minutes of the first half, Garner put the Falcons into the lead on a breakaway.

The Falcons came out in the second half and quickly took a shot on goal within the first minute. After the attempt, Nation Ford wasn’t able to get as many attempts in the next 10 minutes, while Rock Hill controlled the ball more and rattled off several unsuccessful attempts. The shots on goal eventually paid off, however, as Rock Hill tied the game with about 23 minutes left in the second half.

Then, just as soon as the whistle blew on the next possession, Garner again took the ball and shredded the Bearcats’ defense to score her second goal and put Nation Ford up 3-2 within 47 seconds after the Rock Hill goal. That goal ended all the scoring in the game, as the Falcons’ defense was able to hold strong against Rock Hill for the remainder of the game.

Earlier in the week, the Falcons lost a close match 1-0 to Blythewood at home.

This week Nation Ford will face Gaffney twice according to their schedule, once at home and once on the road. They also have a non-conference game against South Pointe on the road.

This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Nation Ford rallies twice to beat Rock Hill."