LFO, Ringgold girls fall in first round of state
After a magical run to a Region 6-AAA championship, the LFO Lady Warriors were looking to keep things going in the first round of the Class AAA state playoffs last Tuesday night.
However, those plans were derailed by the Lady Hurricanes of Monroe Area High School — the No. 4 seed out of Region 8 — who posted a 4-2 victory and ended LFO’s season with an 8-7 overall record.
The visitors led 2-0 at intermission on goals by sisters Zoe and Morgan Graham, but with the wind at their backs in the second half, the Lady Warriors made their charge.
They sliced Monroe Area’s lead down to one with 32:29 remaining in the contest. Senior captain Emma Leverrett fought off a hard shoulder charge from a defender, maintained possession of the ball, spun and fired a shot past the keeper from just outside of the 18yard box, giving LFO its initial goal of the match.
However, the cheers from the bench and the LFO faithful had barely died out when the Lady Hurricanes struck off of a counterattack with Morgan Graham making it 3-1 just 38 seconds later.
The Lady Warriors, though, regrouped, continued to press the attack and were eventually rewarded with a corner kick just over 10 minutes later.
Setting up on the far corner on the visitor side of the field, strong-legged senior defender Makenna Redmond sent a beautiful curving shot
across the mouth of the goal that caught just enough of a crosswind to put it into the far post.
The clang of the ball against the metal was quickly followed by the excited screams of the Lady Warriors as the ball kicked right off the post and into the goal, much to the disbelief of the visitors. A fired-up LFO squad then hustled back to midfield, trailing 3-2 and still with 22:01 left to play.
Unfortunately, LFO was not able to get another shot past the keeper and the Lady Hurricanes added a final insurance goal with 9:44 to play as Zoe Graham got her foot on a loose ball inside the box after the Lady Warriors were unable to clear it.
LFO had one more solid scoring opportunity a short time later, but was unable to
get off of a good shot inside the box before Monroe Area was able to send the ball in the opposite direction.
Sadie Robinson finished with 11 saves for the Lady Warriors.
STEPHENS COUNTY 5, RINGGOLD 0
The news wasn’t too good a little further down Battlefield Parkway either as the Lady Tigers, the Region 6-AAA runners-up for a second straight year, fell behind 2-0 at halftime and were eliminated by the Lady Indians from Toccoa, the No. 3 seed from Region 8.
Stephens County controlled the ball for the majority of the match and made scoring chances few and far between for the Blue-and-White.
Alayna Custer was able to put a shot on goal late in the first half, but it was gobbled up by the Lady Indians keeper.
The visitors made it 3-0 nothing early in the second half and they tacked on two final goals to end Ringgold’s season with a 7-6-1 record.
Scottie Parton finished
with 10 saves for the Lady Tigers.
No. 3 seed Coahulla Creek was the only team from Region 6 to win its first-round match. The Lady Colts knocked off Region 8 runner-up East Jackson, 2-1, and will face Region 2 champion Jackson in the next round. Meanwhile, No. 4 seed North Murray, making its first-ever appearance in the state soccer playoffs, suffered an 8-0 defeat at the hands of Region 8 champion Oconee County.