The Division II -AA soccer quarterfinals kicked off over the weekend with Chattanooga Christian School facing off against Girls Preparatory School. The game was held at the CCS Lady Chargers’ home field early in the day with plenty to be excited about. GPS and the Bruisers would have to fight against a tough opponent in a packed stadium full of fans in navy blue and white. Unfortunately for the Bruisers, the road ran out for them as CCS would take the win and move on to the semifinals with a score of 3-0.
The Lady Chargers had their eyes on scoring right from the beginning. After about nine minutes of play, they took the lead with the help of winger, Neely Fillman. The counterattack worked well for the Lady Chargers their game and especially caught GPS off guard in the beginning. From one winger to another, Kyla Kruchinksi would take the ball forward, cross it in, and allow Fillman to use her knee to hit it first time. This would be the only goal of the half with CCS with the 1-0 advantage.
The second half showed more goals but would not prove to be a game changer for the Bruisers. The two goals would be scored by forward Kruchinksi. Kruchinksi found herself in a positive attacking position multiple times throughout the match. She finally got her first goal by being in the right place and having an extremely fast reaction time. The ball took an unexpected bounce in the box and Krushinksi wasted no time to blast it past the keeper. No more than two minutes later Krushinksi found a second goal on the counterattack. Elizabeth Hightshue made the right pass through the defense to give Kruchinksi an easy chance against the keeper.
“It is a big win,” said Lady Chargers Head Coach Tyler Robertson. “It is a rival game. We are dealing with some injuries, and we overcame that. Asked some girls to step up and they did that. We knew we wanted tog et back to the state tournament and obviously we have to win this game to do that. Proud of the girls. It was a slug fest and a hard-fought game and I just can’t be happier. Now we are guaranteed two more games. Neely Fillman, credit to her, she is actually a softball player and picked up soccer this year. She has that championship mindset where she is going to work until it happens. I talked to her yesterday about scoring and she did so. Then Kyla on the other two. We knew if we held on for the first ten minutes in the second half that our mindset was going to carry us through. She got in behind and she did what Kyla Kruchinksi does, she scores. Really proud of her.”
The score line does not fully show the whole story, especially when it comes to how the Bruisers played despite the loss. They did not make it easy for CCS to keep the ball. In fact, CCS have done an incredible job of keeping possession and moving the ball. However, GPS went to their home field and disrupted play the whole game making it frustrating to find anything on offense. In the end it came down to who could finish well, and CCS did just that.
Neely Fillman, who scored the first goal of the game, spoke about being a softball player at heart and picking up soccer. She talked about team and the difference of being on a soccer team now.
“Scoring is really exciting.’ Fillman stated, “I feel like it is going to bring a lot of energy going into the finals now. I am going to continue to do whatever I can to help the team and get us a good outcome. We all have a tight bond with each other. We can tell that everybody is going to push you and be there for you and pick you up. It is just a really good feeling knowing you have all these girls behind you. The difference in sports is honestly the conditioning. You have to push yourself to get in shape and know to never let yourself get down when you make a mistake. You just keep pushing. We are a family”
BAYLOR 2 KNOX CATHOLIC 0 The Baylor girls soccer team won their region tournament opener 2-0 over Knox Catholic .
Zoe Misenhimer scored off a corner kick a corner kick in the 39th minute to give Baylor a 1-0 lead.
Elizabeth Silva scored off a Addi Greene pass early in the second half for a 2-0 lead.
"It has been a very long week (but a good one) and I am proud of how our girls have approached and played this week," Baylor head coach Curtis Blair said. "We moved the ball well today but still need to clean up some items in the attacking third. I thought we played well, and it was a great team effort today."
Baylor will host CCS on Tuesday for the region semi-finals.
Standouts: Sara Hill, Lilly Catalanotto, Olivia Newton, Brylee Faulkner, Emily Betterton, Calais Justice, Bowen Johnson,
Baylor improves to 14-3-2 on the season.
Game Summary
Girls Preparatory School 0 0 -- 0
Chattanooga Christian 1 2 -- 3
Goal Scorers:
Chattanooga Christian- Kyla Kruchinksi 2, Neely Fillman.
Assists:
Chattanooga Christian- Kyla Kruchinksi, Elizabeth Hightshue
(Contact Alex McElyea at alexmcelyea26@gmail.com)