HENDERSONVILLE — West Henderson midfielder Lauren Clonch stole the ball from Central Cabarrus midfielder Olivia Guyder near midfield and immediately sent the ball toward the left corner in the 29th minute, with her team up by one.
Her pass set up a 35-yard foot race between West Henderson forward Marianne Maxon and Vikings defender Kaelyn Honeycutt.
Maxon beat Honeycutt to the corner, took two long dribbles back toward the open field and fired. Her shot curled up and over the Central Cabarrus goalkeeper and found the top left corner of the net to give West Henderson a two-goal lead and her second score of the game Thursday.
"It was outstanding," midfielder Catherine Barton said of Maxon's goal. "Of course Marianne (Maxon), she can execute things like that. We're lucky to have her."
Maxon scored once more, in the 54th minute, for the hat trick and the 3-2 win at home as No. 3 West Henderson defeated No. 14 Central Cabarrus (14-5-1) in the second round of the NCHSAA 3A playoffs.
The Falcons will host the winner of No. 11 Northwest Cabarrus (17-3) and No. 6 Lake Norman Charter (18-2-2) on Monday.
"She kind of put us on her back tonight and took over," West Henderson coach Brian Brewer said. "She can do that. She's good at doing that. She puts her teammates on her back and takes over a game. She did it tonight."
Maxon believes her goals wouldn't have happened without the energy the Falcons put out, their effort on display as they won the majority of 50-50 balls, which helped them dominate both halves.
But their energy level dipped in the final minutes of the first half, which led to a Central Cabarrus score and allowed the Vikings to have some momentum heading into halftime.
"We've been scoring early this year," Maxon said. "We just got to work on maintaining that 0-0 mentality. Because if you're like, 'Oh, we're winning. I don't got to win this 50-50 ball.' That 50-50 ball could lead to their goal."
Brewer said playing with energy from the start can set the tone for the entire game.
Last season, West Henderson fell one game short of competing for the state championship. Maxon said energy will be pivotal in getting that far again.
"We just got to focus on keeping our energy high the whole time," she said.
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Zachary Huber is a high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times and Hendersonville Times-News. Email him at zhuber@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @zacharyahuber. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times and Times-News.
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