Calhoun strikes first, but falls to Pace Academy to end season
The Calhoun Lady Jackets started Friday’s Class AAA Elite Eight game vs. Pace Academy with a bang, but despite some solid defensive work against a powerful Lady Knights’ attack, their record-breaking season came to a sudden end.
Calhoun, who was playing in their first-ever Elite Eight game, scored the first goal in the second minute, but Pace Academy recovered quickly and kept up the pressure for the duration of the game to earn a 3-1 road victory and advance to the Final Four.
“We got up early, but Pace Academy is a really good team and their offensive scheme confused us a couple times, which led to goals,” said Calhoun coach Randy Rice. “They didn’t get anything after that, though, and our defense really frustrated them. The girls played awesome. They kept fighting. The girls play for each other, but we came up one goal short.
“I’m proud of these girls. If you would’ve told me before the season that we would lose 2-1 in the Elite Eight, I wouldn’t have believed it. But these girls refused to lose.”
The lone goal for the Lady Jackets (14-4) came off the foot of senior Leah Prather, who beautifully bent a corner kick into the top of the net to put her team on top 1-0 two minutes into the contest.
Pace Academy ( 12- 4- 2) regained momentum though as they pushed in a goal in the sixth minute. They took the lead seven minutes later with another goal to make it 2-1.
Calhoun balanced out the possession a bit toward the end of the first half and had shots from Ashley Hartness, Emily Sorrow and Jenna Santorri, but they were all stopped by the Lady Knights’ goalkeeper.
Calhoun’s goalkeeper Mia Smith had multiple saves to keep her team within striking distance early in the second half, and Halle Rhodes had a solid night as a stopper before being moved up front later in the game to help the attack. Prather and Carter Baggett battled in the midfield, and MeriKathryn Black returned from a midseason injury to provide a solid contribution at forward.
Pace Academy added their final goal in the 76th minute on a penalty kick.
Despite the loss, Rice said he was very proud of how his team rallied this season and achieved great success despite multiple injuries.
“We came back from the tournament in Huntsville (Ala.) early because we didn’t have enough healthy players to finish it,” said Rice. “The way the team came back and played their hearts out for each other shows what kind of kids they are. We had girls that did whatever they could to help the team.”
Calhoun will lose six seniors from the team, but they will return a large and talented core of younger players that stepped up and played big minutes this season. Rice said he is looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Lady Jackets’ soccer.
“We’re losing some good seniors that did a lot for our program, but these younger girls have played enough and are ready to step up,” said Rice. “We’ve got a quality program at the middle school level also so we get girls a lot of time to play as freshmen because they are ready and then they continue to improve from there and help the team.”