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Four teams in quarterfinals

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

All four varsity teams from McIntosh and Starr’s Mill are still alive in the state playoffs, giving Fayette County an outside shot at having a representative in all championship matches at the AAAA and AAAAA levels.

The Lady Chiefs and Lady Panthers play tonight in the state quarterfinals, while the boys’ teams take the field tomorrow. The championship round is the weekend of May 13-14.

Boys

McIntosh 3

Upson-Lee 1

It took a second-half wake up call when Upson Lee tied the score, but eventually top-ranked McIntosh put their opponent away 3-1 in Wednesday night’s third round of the state playoffs.

The Chiefs, ranked number one in the state’s AAAA classification, will face third-ranked Salem in Conyers Saturday night.

Salem is 15-2-2 overall, with both its losses coming in its first three matches of the season.

McIntosh Coach Bucky Colvin said the Chiefs got a little complacent against Upson Lee, given that they’ve shut out so many opponents this season.

“That’s a good thing,” Colvin said, because it shows the Chiefs have confidence about their defense. It helped that McIntosh came out and played a much improved second half, Colvin added.

McIntosh took a 1-0 lead into the half on a score from Derek Farnsworth. With just under 30 minutes left in the match, Upson Lee tapped in a head shot from a corner kick to knot the score, sending the unranked Upson Lee bench into a frenzy.

That emotion subsided less than seven minutes later when McIntosh’s Patrick Murray scored to make it 2-1. Murray added a third insurance goal with 4:08 left to put the game out of reach for Upson Lee.

“I was proud of the way we responded,” Colvin said. “When they scored the goal, we responded.”

BOYS

Starr’s Mill 3

Camden Co. 0

The Starr’s Mill boys soccer squad took care of Camden County 3-0 in Wednesday’s third-round game of the state playoffs.

That sets up a Saturday match with the Panthers’ nemesis, Brookwood, which beat Starr’s Mill in last year’s state AAAAA final with a goal in the last 30 seconds of double overtime. The game will start at 6 p.m.

So yeah, there is quite a motivating factor out there for the Panthers in Saturday’s game. Earlier this year, the teams tied 1-1.

“It’s going to be a battle from start to finish,” said Starr’s Mill coach Mike Hanie, noting that the Panthers have played quite a few one-goal games against Brookwood, but they never have been able to finish with a win.

The Panthers, ranked seventh in the state, have already been tested by top-ranked teams this year, tying with Walton March 26 and losing 3—2 to Lassiter in February.

In Wednesday’s game, the Panther offense got many great shots off, but Camden’s goalkeeper made quite a few solid saves to prevent more goals from scoring, Hanie said. As it was, Kyle Nowicki scored a goal with an assist from Corey Cross, Chip Rutland scored once and Nick Bugara scored once.

“We moved the ball around well and did create a lot of scoring opportunities,” Hanie said.

Girls

Starr’s Mill 9

Windsor Forest 0

The Starrs Mill Lady Panthers knocked off Windsor Forest 9-0 in second-round soccer action Tuesday night.

That sets up a 1-2 showdown between top-ranked Starr’s ]Mill and second-ranked Parkview, who will host the Lady Panthers Friday night. The teams have not faced each other yet this year.

Starr’s Mill has beaten all five ranked opponents it has played this year: Walton, Brookwood, Harrison, Newnan and Milton.

The Lady Panthers scored nine goals in their victory over Windsor Forest Tuesday night, including two from Lucy Martin, Jessica Taylor and Katie Jacobsen. Sarah Burke, Gina Goforth and Laura McCalla each had single goals in the win.

McCalla had two assists, with Burke, Goforth, Taylor, Emily Stevens and Emily Williams each having single assists.

Parkview beat unranked Collins Hill 6-0 in the second round, but they beat eighth-ranked Shiloh and lost to ninth-ranked Brookwood late in the season.

Girls

McIntosh 5

Eagle’s Landing 0

The top-ranked McIntosh girls soccer team cruised to victory in second-round action Tuesday afternoon.

McIntosh beat sixth-ranked Eagles Landing 5-0 and will host unranked Lakeside-DeKalb tonight at 7 p.m.

Lady Chiefs coach Marcia Clark said she was happy with the win, but it wasn’t “as pretty” as the 1-0 victory over Woodward. Then again, this is the first time the team has been healthy enough to get out on the field in the same game, Clark noted.

“We were a little off,” Clark said, adding that several players made it into the action despite various injuries they are battling. “Of course, it could be because they hadn’t played in six days, too.”

Having the injured come back for playing time also creates another problem, albeit a good one, Clark said: How to work in and make sure everybody gets the right mix of playing time.

McIntosh’s scoring came from Jesse Lenze, who had two goals, with one each from Olivia Tucker, Kari Quinn and Monica Hogan. Katie Schulz assisted on three of those goals, with one assist each from Hogan and Quinn.

The Lady Chiefs’ undefeated record is now up to 21-0-1, good for making them the top-ranked team in the state. Lakeside-DeKalb is unranked, but won both its first and second-round playoff games by one goal each.

“I feel like we’re ready and we’re going pretty strong,” Clark said of the Lady Chiefs. “It really feels good to be able to play everybody in the same game.”