The Greensboro Day School Bengals may have felt they had passed their biggest hurdle in their run for the NCISAA Class 3A girls soccer championship when they survived a wild semifinal finish against Charlotte Latin.
After all, Latin had knocked the Bengals out of the 2012 playoffs and they had not lost since that game.
However, the season came to an end with their only loss of the season, as Charlotte Providence Day defeated Greensboro Day 2-1. It was the first girls state 3-A soccer championship in girls soccer for the Chargers.
With 11 minutes to play, sophomore Lauren Lucas got on the end of the ball in a scramble in front of the Bengals’ goal and pushed it across for the game-winner.
GDS scored first on a goal by midfielder Julia Cook. The Chargers equalized before halftime on Ali Gray’s goal.
In the semifinal, GDS had the game in hand until Cannon Clough tied the score at 1-1 with only two seconds left on the clock. After 110 minutes the game went to a shootout and GDS advanced 4-1 in PKs.
Greensboro Day had taken the lead over Latin on a long free kick by Shannon Arnold with 47.9 seconds left in the game. Before Clough’s goal in the semifinals, the Bengals had gone 15 straight games without giving up a goal.
Providence Day (17-3-0), the #2 seed, finished the season with a 13-game-winning streak. Greensboro Day finished 17-1-3.
Three Straight For Davidson Day
Davidson Day won its third consecutive N.C. Independent Schools girls state championship with a 4-2 win over Greensboro’s Caldwell Academy. Davidson Day won the 1-A title in 2011, and has now won the last two 2-A titles.
Davidson Day (19-4-4) held a 2-0 halftime lead. Caldwell Academy tied the score early in the second half. Davidson Day scored twice in an eight-minute span to put the game away.
Cartlyn Rodrigues scored a pair of goals and assisted on the other two. Maddison Clark and Emma Reid had the other goals for the winners.
DeGraf Paces Statesville Christian
Junior Deborah DeGraf scored a hat trick to lead Statesville Christian to a 6-2 victory over Hickory Christian for the NCISAA 1-A state championship.
In the fourth meeting between the two teams this season, Statsville jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Hickory would cut into that with a pair of goals, then the Lions responded for three unanswered goals for the championship.
DeGraf scored nine goals in three playoff games against Community Christian, Greenfield School and Hickory Christian.
Both Hickory goals were scored by freshman Maddie Speagle. Hickory ended its season with a 10-6-2 record, while Statesville was 13-4-0.