SYLACAUGA, Ala. – SYLACAUGA, Ala, The Sylacauga varsity girls, and boys soccer teams wrapped up their season on Thursday night with area wins.
The varsity girls defeated the Bulldogs 7-2. The Lady Aggies had 23 shots with 15 being on target and dominated possession with 57.2%.
Girls Stats:
Jasmine Burns: 2 goals, 1 assist
Kaitlyn Bell: 1 assist
Kaitlyn Boozer: 1 goal, 1 assist
Audrey Bell: 1 goal
Maggie Reeves: 1 goal 1 assist
Peyton Fricks: 1 goal
Emma Steers: 1 goal
“Last night was an intense physical game,” said head varsity girls coach Nick Grogan. “It was for a playoff birth and both teams knew how big of a game it was. Montevallo scored the first goal of the match in the first minute. We got caught flat footed and they were able to take advantage of it. I was proud that we didn’t hang our heads after giving up the early goal instead we picked up our play immediately. In the 6th minute of the game Jasmine was able to carry the ball into the six box and find Maggie on a cross where she was wide open on the back post. Maggie was in great position and was able to make a nice finish to tie the game up with a perfect assist from Jasmine. It was back and forth for the rest of the first half. At halftime we made some adjustments and played a solid 2nd half of soccer. The 2nd goal come from an assist from 8th grader Kaitlyn Bell who had one of her best games of the season last night. She beat a couple defenders and found Boozer for the finish. Audrey Bell who also had one of her best games found the back of the net for the 3rd goal. She dribbled 2 defenders and had a nice shot into the back left corner of the goal. After the 3rd goal I felt we really took over the game. We scored the 4th goal just 3 minutes later. That’s probably the most physical game we have played all season and their was a huge crowd in attendance which made the game even more intense. I have to say I think it’s the most fun the girls have had playing all season. We were able to score seven goals and hopefully that will carry on into the playoffs. We will play Pike Road High School in Round 1 of playoffs on the road. I feel good about how we are playing right now and the girls are working hard to be the best team they can be so hopefully we can make a Final Four run and play in Huntsville.”
The boys defeated the Bulldogs 5-1 with 14 attemted shots to wrap up regular season play.
Boys stats:
Franklin Perez: 4 goals, 1 assist
Alex Roberts: 1 goal
Camden Faircloth: 1 assist
Aubrey Elliott: 1 assist
Nathan Perry (Keeper): 8 saves
“Big win for us in area play! The environment at tonight’s game was absolutely electric,” said boys head coach Billy Faircloth. “Our fans (parents and students) really energized things for us! It was especially rowdy at the field following the win by our varsity girls team to clinch their playoff spot! I’m super proud of those ladies and Coach Grogan.
My guys fed off that vibe, that energy, and our game was fun (and nerve-wracking) to watch! We knew this would be a battle. When we went to Montevallo in March, we won 8-2. With tonight being an area game and a playoff spot on the line, we were prepared for an intense game. When you also factor in the referees, the fans, and Montevallo bringing the “revenge”mentality, you have the setup for some fireworks. Fortunately or us, we caught fire pretty early in the game. We scored our first two goals in the first six minutes. To jump up 2-0 like that in this game was huge. The offense kept the momentum and controlled possession for almost the entire first half. We got two more goals by the 25th minute, and then…well, the wheels kind of fell off and things got sloppy. Mentally, we allowed the ref to get in our heads with some questionable calls that were against us. One of those instances led to Montevallo getting a penalty kick to cut our lead to 4-1 at halftime. So, if we can limit some of our self-inflicted wounds in the mental aspect of a game, we will be much better off. We got one more goal in the second half to finish off the game with a 5-1 win. Defensively, the guys played an overall good game. The only score from Montevallo came from a penalty kick. Now, Montevallo took plenty of shots, some in good spots. Our keeper, Nathan Perry, really played his butt off and made some big saves! This is the first game this season that we won a game when the opposing team took more shots than us. We’ll accept that if we’re forcing their shots to come from areas not ideal for goal scoring.”
Thursday night’s win moves the Aggies to 11-6-1 overall and 5-2 in the area, clinching a spot as the second seed in our area and will travel in the first round.
“We will know next Monday night whether we go to Pike Road or Marbury when those two teams play to decide their area,” said Faircloth. “Right now, though, we have to focus on our final regular season game which is also an area game. We will travel to Shelby County tomorrow and play at 5:30 p.m. I hope we can go take care of business and don’t allow ourselves to fall into a trap. It’s hard to play at a high level in back-to-back days, but that’s what we will need to do to close out this regular season and begin preparing for the one game season that comes (sometime) next week.”
