FAIRLAND
Greenwood Christian couldn’t sustain an early lead, conceding three second-half goals and getting eliminated by eighth-ranked Heritage Christian, 3-1, in the Class A girls soccer sectional at Triton Central on Tuesday night.
Heritage Christian (7-9-2) now plays No. 2 Park Tudor in a semifinal on Thursday, but it could have easily been the Cougars advancing.
Instead, GCA (11-5-1) will be turning in its kits. A dearth of offense, defense, communication and a killer instinct were the blueprint for defeat.
“Heritage Christian is a very good team and solid,” Greenwood Christian coach Joanna List said. “(We) worked hard and gave them a good game. I just think we didn’t quite have the tenacity and were half a second too late to the ball."
Heritage Christian had the first golden opportunity on penalty shot thanks to Cougar interference on a breakaway. But the kick from the Eagles’ Julian Klutz flew above goalie Ellie Bigelow and smacked the football crossbar before bouncing away.
Despite the miss, Heritage kept Bigelow busy, peppering several shots on goal. Trouble was none of them were going in, as Bigelow stopped most every shot. Those she didn’t block went askew of the net.
It looked to be a scoreless half, but in the 38th minute, Greenwood Christian had a corner kick and a little trickery.
While the Cougars lined up on the far corner of the goal, senior Cameron Northern made a perfect kick in front of the net, and Cassie Bigelow ran in and put the ball past goalie Hanna Savage to make it 1-0 Cougars.
Heritage Christian, sensing an urgency, tied it within the first two minutes of the second half when the Eagles’ Brynna Moore won a race for the ball against Ellie Bigelow. The GCA keeper was able to stop Moore’s shot, but the ball ricocheted right to Grace Byers, who put it in the empty net for the tie.
Byers scored the game-winner 12 minutes later and then it was the simple process of playing keep-away from the Cougars, most notably Northern.
Heritage Christian’s Natalia Snyder hit an insurance goal to take away any chance of a comeback with six minutes left.
Despite the loss, GCA had its best-ever season. While Northern will be hard to replace, Greenwood Christian will have seven returning starters, including goalie Bigelow, back.
“With some incoming freshman, and my returning players, I’ll have a lot of talent behind me,” List said.
