How Emma Jones lifted Hendersonville girls soccer to 4th round
Hendersonville midfielder Emma Jones placed the ball exactly where she wanted it for a corner kick in the 23rd minute with the Bearcats up a goal on East Gaston. She then raised her hand, signaling to her teammates she was about to put it in play.
Jones surveyed the box, looking for an open teammate. She found Aubrie Retzbach standing alone toward the back post. Jones booted a beauty with her left foot, giving no Warriors defender a chance to knock it away.
It found Retzbach’s head for the easy goal to give No. 4 Hendersonville a two-goal lead it never surrendered on the way to a 4-1 victory over No. 5 East Gaston (18-2-2) on Monday in the third round of the 2A NCHSAA playoffs. The Bearcats advance to the fourth round for the first time since 2019 and will travel to face No. 1 Pine Lake Prep (18-1-2) on Thursday.
Retzbach’s goal in the 23rd minute was the second time Jones found her against the Warriors. Jones found Retzbach in the 14th minute to give Hendersonville (17-4) its first goal of the game.
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“Aubrie (Retzbach) and I work pretty well together on the wings,” Jones said. “So I knew that if I could just get her the ball, I knew she’d finish it. I have a lot of trust in her.”
Jones recorded her first goal nine minutes later after her second assist. She snuck one past East Gaston goalkeeper Shelbi Beck on a free kick.
Coach Kayla Fadden said Jones is an important player for Hendersonville because she is so versatile and a team player. She said Jones can be an outside midfielder, a center midfielder, a forward, and a defender.
“Emma (Jones) is so versatile and so impactful,” Fadden said. “She’s not necessarily the quickest player that we have, but she is very poised. She understands how to play and she can take anyone on.”
Fadden said Retzbach is a special player, too, because of her speed and tenacity.
“She just wants it,” Fadden said. “And because she wants it, she crashes that back post better than any player I’ve coached. And she comes out of nowhere and she’s in that back post. That has scored so many goals for us.”
Retzbach said it’s exciting to advance to the fourth round after getting knocked out in the third round last season.
“It’s really an exciting opportunity for us,” Retzbach said. “Last year, we got kicked out the third round I think, and I’m really glad that we moved past that. Really hope we can get to regionals.”
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: How Emma Jones lifted Hendersonville girls soccer to 4th round
