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White County's Rachel Harris, left, and Cherokee Bluff's Alex Jahnke collide during the region matchup Tuesday afternoon at the Truett McConnell soccer complex in Cleveland. (Photo/Mark Turner)
With the high school soccer season rolling toward the finish line, every game matters in the hunt for a state playoff spot.
Such was the case for the White County Lady Warriors Tuesday night when they took on Cherokee Bluff in their final region matchup of the season.
The game was big for both teams. White County needed a win in order to secure the No. 2 spot in the region race and lock up a home playoff game, and Cherokee Bluff was looking to outright win the 7-AAA title.
The Lady Warriors totally dominated the opening half of the game, taking a 1-0 lead into intermission, but Cherokee Bluff took over in the second half, scoring four unanswered goals to clinch the region title with a 4-1 win.
In the boy's contest, the Warriors gave up a goal in the opening minutes of the game, but battled the Bears evenly for most of the first half before the Bears struck again for a 2-0 lead heading into halftime. It was all Bears in the second half as they scored five times on the way to a 7-0 win.
On Tuesday, the Lady Warriors got a 1-0 lead early in the game and used a stellar defensive effort to take the lead into halftime. The Warriors' defensive group of Lily Gearing, Anna Tatum, Liz Willams, Lilly Gann, Rachel Harris, and Callie Armour did a solid job in the first half, holding the Lady Bears' high-scoring offense to very few scoring opportunities.
With 5:29 left in the half, the Lady Warriors broke through for the first goal of the game.
After Tatum came up with the ball near midfield, the ball ended up deep in Bluff territory. Ramey made a pass to Adelyn Knight on the right side, and Knight touched it right back to Ramey, who put a shot past the Bluff keeper for the lead.
Bluff had a couple of chances in the final minutes, one off a corner kick and one on deep push inside the 18-yard box, but the defense stood tall and kept the ball out of the net.
Early in the second half, the Lady Warriors had chance to go up by two goals, but a shot from close range just missed the right post. With 34 minutes left in the game, Ramey was denied from the right side by a diving save by Bluff's Avery Fowler.
Bluff came up with the equalizer at the 28:48 mark, with Kaitlin Cook scoring from close range off a crossing pass.
Ten minutes later, Bluff took the lead as Genisis Gamez snuck a shot just inside the left post for a 2-1 advantage.
Bluff managed to keep the ball away from the Warriors' offensive attack, keeping the ball in their end of the field for the majority of the 40-minute half.
Bluff added a pair of goals in the final six minutes to finish off the win, getting goals from Cook and Anna Gessner.
“We just played one of the top teams in the state, and what makes them one of the top teams is they can sub a ton, and when they subbed, they didn't lose a step," Runkle said. "We're playing through three ankle sprains, a broken arm, and strep throat. There's only so much adversity a team can overcame, and I couldn't have asked them to play any harder. They left their hearts out there today.”
Despite the loss, the Lady Warriors are still headed to the Class AAA playoffs.
The Lady Warriors will finish up the regular season with a match at Mountain View April 8.
WCHS opens the state tournament Tuesday, April 12, heading to Atlanta to take on Greater Atlanta Christian, who is currently rnaked No. 2 in the latest state poll.
“With this team, there is an expectation of making the playoffs and we knew that's something we needed to accomplish,” Runkle said. “I told the girls after the game I don't many teams that could graduate almost their entire starting lineup and disappointed with a third seed. Some teams are going to be sitting at home wishing they had this opportunity. This is a special group of girls, willing to go out there and play 80 minutes and try to make something amazing happen.”
Boys fall to Bluff
The Warriors put up a fight in the first half before Cherokee Bluff kicked things into high gear in the final 40 minutes on the way to a 7-0 win.
The Warriors have one more game on the spring schedule, taking on North Hall Friday at Truett McConnell in a region matchup beginning at 6 p.m.
The two teams were scheduled to play earlier in the season, but the game was postponed due to heavy rains which made the field at TMU unplayable.
On Tuesday, Bears got a goal in the opening minutes of the game to take a 1-0.
The Warriors had a chance to tie things up near the 20-minute mark when Thad Gensler found Preskitt Castleberry in the middle of the field near the top of the 18-yard box. Castleberry got off a clean shot, but the ball was just wide of the right post.
Moments later, Bluff's Ryan Moreno got loose down the field and stuck a shot in the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.
With 2:40 left in the first half, the Warriors had a corner kick opportunity from Grayson Cathey, but the Bears were able to clear the ball out of the box to to keep the Warriors off the scoreboard.
The Warriors had two deep pushes in the final 90 seconds of the half, but Bluff once again managed to keep the Warriors from getting a clean look at the goal. Bluff's offense took over in the final 40 minutes, scoring five times to finish off the game.