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Grace Witherspoon
The Stephens County Lady Indian soccer team advanced to the second round of the state before being eliminated. The Lady Indians rolled to a 5-0 whitewash of Ringgold in a first round game played there. That vaulted the Lady Indians into a Sweet 16 matchup with Morgan County where the Stephens girls lost in sudden death penalty kicks. In the playoff victory over Ringgold, Julia Knight recorded a hat trick (three goals) for the Lady Indians. Bre York and Grace Witherspoon each scored a goal in the victory. SCHS head coach Erin Fleming said SCHS goalkeeper Kiara Lopez and the defensive line made “incredible efforts” in the shutout win.
In the second round against Morgan County in Madison, the Lady Indians fell short after penalty kicks decided the outcome. The two teams battled to a 1-1 deadlock at the end of regulation and extra time. In the second half, Morgan County scored a goal off a corner kick. However, the Lady Indians rallied to tie the game on the strength of a Madison Strickland goal. The game ended in a tie after regulation forcing a pair of 10-minute overtimes. The game remained tied after the 20 minutes of extra play. With two minutes left in the overtime, the Lady Indians crossed the ball to Calli Miller who scored. However, Miller was ruled offside and the goal was disallowed.
The tie score led to penalty kicks. Knight (the third kicker) scored the only goal for Stephens County, but Morgan outscored SCHS and won the game. Fleming said it was a close and very physical game. Fleming said she was proud that her team played hard and did not give up.
“As a team we had a rocky start but learned how to play together and became a very strong team,” Fleming said.
With the elimination, SCHS concluded their season with an 8-9 overall record, 3-2 in region play.