Staff Report

The Mount Airy-East Surry girls soccer game Tuesday played out in a similar fashion to the first encounter between the two teams. The Granite Bears took a 5-0 win and now have outscored the Cardinals 11-0 in their two meetings this season.

However, yesterday’s win was not as easy as the first, according to Mount Airy coach Andrew Howard.

“They seemed a lot better,” Howard said. “They were still aggressive. In the first half they kept it in our half (of the field) a while and pressured us. Overall, I thought they did a great job.”

Mount Airy (5-4, 3-3 Northwest 1A) played a game for the first time in two weeks. Spring break combined with April showers kept the Granite Bears relegated to the practice field.

“You could tell we were a little rusty coming off in the first 20 minutes or so,” Howard said.

Lindsay Castevens and Ericka Watson scored two goals apiece, while Kristen Cotts found the net once. Castevens, who scored on a penalty shot and from a tricky angle along the goal line, upped her goal total to 17.

Next up for Mount Airy is long-awaited rematch at unblemished Elkin at 6:30 p.m. tonight. The Granite Bears fell 1-0 to the Buckin’ Elks earlier in the year on a fluke goal scored when a Mount Airy player accidentally headed a ball into her own goal.

“Any time you play an undefeated No. 1 team, naturally you want to be the one to beat them,” Howard said. “I think our girls have decided we want to avenge our loss to them last time. We shut them out basically and beat ourselves.”