Fort Mill girls wrap up tie for Region soccer title, set sights on playoffs
The Fort Mill girls soccer team wrapped up a tie for the Region IV title with a 3-1 win over rival Nation Ford in the regular season finale for both teams.
The region title for the girls’ soccer program makes it the school's 16th consecutive title it either won outright or shared with another school. This time, Fort Mill shares it with Clover, with whom they split this season's series . Fort Mill finished the regular season at 12-3-2 overall and 7-1 in the region, while Nation Ford was 9-9-1 overall and 4-4 in the region. The Jackets will open the playoffs at home hosting Riverside, while Nation Ford travels to Wade Hampton.
The game between the rivals was played for the most part in a driving rain, but Fort Mill controlled the majority of possessions..
“We feel like the game was a dress rehearsal for (this) week,” said Fort Mill head coach Kev Summers. “NaFo always gives us a good game. Overall, I can’t really complain. The weather put a damper on things a bit.”
Nation Ford opened the game getting a couple quick shots off, one of which was stopped by Jackets keeper Emily Ambrose and the other shot went off the sidebar of the goal. After the initial attack by the Falcons, Fort Mill took control and never really relinquished it.
Fort Mill scored at the 10-minute mark with a goal from Baylie White to put the Jackets up 1-0. About 13 minutes later, Fort Mill went up 2-0 with a goal from Lexi Barrowclough to really put the Falcons in a hole.
The Jackets took the comfortable lead into the locker room as the rain eased up some. Fort Mill didn’t ease up as the second half started as they scored 30 seconds into the half as Alyssa Bollmer put the Jackets up 3-0 on a breakaway after the opening whistle.
Nation Ford prevented the shutout as Maren White scored five minutes later with about the 25 minutes remaining. The Falcons controlled the ball more in the second half, but still couldn’t get any momentum moving in their direction after the goal.
Mac Banks: mbanks@comporium.net, @MacBanksFM
This story was originally published April 30, 2018 at 11:15 AM with the headline "Fort Mill girls wrap up tie for Region soccer title, set sights on playoffs."