Grace's Jessie Vincent (3) battles East Ridge's Jahiely Sales (11) for the ball.
photo by Dennis Norwood
Led by Kayla Bibbs three goals and an assist, the Grace Golden Eagles defeated visiting East Ridge in the Region 3 A-AA semifinals Tuesday night.
Grace had goals from Bibbs and Abigail Smith in the first 10 minutes for a 2-0 lead and never looked back.
Bibbs scored twice more in the second half and Smith scored once.
Grace, who has now won four in a row, including the last three by shutout, improves to 10-10, while the Pioneers finish the season at 9-2-3.
"We preach everyone playing their part and it's never about one player," said Grace coach Gretchen Hammel who is 65-52-7 in seven years at Grace, including 61-29-5 in the last five years with two district titles and one region crown..
"Our team speed was a factor tonight and we passed well."
East Ridge coach Jeremy McIntyre said,"We were in it especially early on as we were around the goal (a shot in the 57th minute hit the post and bounced away), but could not finish. Grace is a great team, has good team speed and they finished their shots and we didn't. It was a good, clean match."
Region Finals: Thursday Oct 22
Region 3 A-AA – Grace hosts Boyd Buchanan who beat Hixson, 6-1, for the Region 3 A-AA title
Region 4 A-AA: CCS is at Notre Dame
Saturday Sectional: The Grace-Boyd Buchanan winner hosts the Notre Dame-Chattanooga Christian loser ... The Grace-BBS loser travels to the ND-CCS winner ... the two winners advance to the state tournament.
Good Hands in Goal: East Ridge goalie Morgan Montieth had seven saves including an excellent save tipping away a shot at the end of the first half and made a big stop off a free kick in the 70th minute.
Grace 5, East Ridge 0
East Ridge 0 - 0 -- 0
Grace 2 - -3 -- 5
Grace - Kayla Bibbs … 5th minute ... 1-0
Grace – Abigail Smith (Bibbs) … 10th minute ... 2-0
Grace – Smith ,,, 48th minute ... 3-0
Grace – Bibbs (Smith) … 57th minute ... 4-0
Grace – Bibbs (Maddie Ferrell) … 70th minute ... 5-0
Match Stats
Goals: Grace, 5-0
Shots: Grace, 16-11
Saves: Morgan Montieth (East Ridge), 7 … Amanda Houck (Grace) 3
Fouls: East Ridge, 6-3
Free Kicks: Grace, 6-5
Hand Balls: Grace, 1-0
Yellow Card: Makaya Moschkau (East Ridge)… 79th minute
Offsides: Grace, 1-0
Corner Kicks: East Ridge, 2-1
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net
Graces' Kayla Bibbs brings the ball up the sideline.,
photo by Dennis Norwood