Who were the best soccer players in the Rock Hill area? See who made All-Area teams

Is Catawba Ridge … a soccer school?

The newest high school in Fort Mill, which opened in 2019 but didn’t have its first full spring sports season until this year because of COVID-19, had a pair of seasons to remember this spring — and The Herald’s All-Area teams reflect that.

On the girls side, Catawba Ridge midfielder Emma Sexton has been named Player of the Year, and Catawba Ridge head coach Robert Schmidt has been named Coach of the Year.

Schmidt supervised a team that went 15-2 (8-0 region) and outscored its opponents 128-8 en route to a Region 3-4A championship and an Upper State championship.

And his senior midfielder captain, Sexton, was a big reason why. On the season, the North-South All-Star selection and Lander University commit notched 11 assists and a team-leading 27 goals — no goal being more important than her last one, which came in overtime in this year’s Upper State championship game and delivered Catawba Ridge its first 4A team state title appearance.

On the boys side, Catawba Ridge is well-represented, too. Dalton Bailey has been named Player of the Year. The senior scored 11 goals and added 18 assists and was 100% on penalty kicks on the year. But those stats alone, in large part because of his position as defensive midfielder, only begin to illustrate the impact the All-State and Region 3-4A Player of the Year had on his Copperhead team.

As for the boys Coach of the Year award: Phillip McCarter of Catawba Ridge and Will Brice of Andrew Jackson each earned a share of the honor.

The two coaches are equally deserving of the award but in different ways.

McCarter, of course, helped engineer a magnificent season that saw the Copperheads become nationally ranked by renowned soccer organization United Soccer Coaches in early May. That brute talent drew a lot of attention, yet McCarter and his Catawba Ridge team continued to find a way to resist complacency and reach for more en route to an Upper State championship game appearance.

“Our boys kind of flip it,” McCarter said in a postgame interview after the team defeated AC Flora in the postseason. “They say that they want to come out and prove it every game. They look at it like they’re the underdog in every game they play, and that they’ve got something to prove. And I think that’s a pretty cool way to look at it.”

Brice and Andrew Jackson flew under the radar by comparison to Catawba Ridge.

The Volunteers didn’t win the Region 4-2A title — after losing twice to Rock Hill’s Legion Collegiate in the regular season — but they thoroughly redeemed themselves in a 2-0 win over Legion for the 2A Lower State championship. The AJ boys soccer program lost in the final but turned out to be the only one in all of York County, Chester County and Lancaster County to make a state championship game. The Volunteers were relatively young this past year, too — which is a testament to what Brice, only in his third year, is building in Kershaw.

“We’ll live and learn from it,” Brice said after his team’s state championship loss in May. “We have a young team. We’ll come back and hopefully get another chance.”

View the All-Area selections in full below.

BOYS SOCCER

Player of the Year: Dalton Bailey, Catawba Ridge

Co-Coaches of the Year: Phillip McCarter, Catawba Ridge; Will Brice, Andrew Jackson

FIRST TEAM

Dalton Bailey, Catawba Ridge.

Mitchell Lane, York: The senior striker had seven goals and three assists in 11 games this season. He was an All-Region 3-4A player as a senior and was the Region Player of the Year as a sophomore (in 2019).

Nic Parker, Northwestern: The senior midfielder scored seven goals and earned a bunch of all-star recognition — including selections to All-Region, All-State and Clash of the Carolinas teams.

Derek Ringnalda, Catawba Ridge: The junior center midfielder was an All-State and All-Region selection and notched five assists and nine goals on the season.

Joshua White, Catawba Ridge: The sophomore striker led the talented Copperheads in goals with 15. He also had three assists and earned All-Region and All-State honors.

Owen Phillips, Andrew Jackson: The center back and team captain was integral to AJ’s run to the 2A state title game. Phillips also earned All-State and All-Region honors.

Carson Brice, Andrew Jackson: The center midfielder — who’s only a freshman — led the team in scoring with 13 goals and was second in assists with 10. He was also an All-Region and All-State selection.

Alex Lopez, Rock Hill: The captain and All-State midfielder scored 12 goals and added eight assists in his junior season. He helped lead the Bearcats to a playoff berth in 2021.

Ronnie Mendez, Rock Hill: Mendez, another All-State selection, was an important defender on a Rock Hill team that only allowed eight goals in eight region games.

Andrew Enger, Nation Ford: The senior, who played right back, was a Region 3-5A selection and North-South selection in 2021. The Falcons just barely missed the playoffs this year.

(Goalie) Andrew Reinhart, Catawba Ridge: The senior All-State and All-Region goalkeeper notched 13 clean sheets this season and only allowed 0.6 goals per game.

(Goalie) Ryan Halas, Nation Ford: The North-South All-Star selection allowed less than one goal per game in Nation Ford’s 18 games and had eight total shutouts. He also had remarkable success against penalty kicks — saving 10 of the 20 he faced this year.

SECOND TEAM

Luke Martin (Nation Ford); Eli Patrick (Nation Ford); Lamont Young (Northwestern); Tyson Funderburk (Andrew Jackson); Evan Helfrich (Fort Mill); Kevin Wright (Fort Mill); Micah Jefferson (Fort Mill); Ben Hudgins (Catawba Ridge); Nathan Clark (Catawba Ridge); Caden Tull (Catawba Ridge); Ayden McCarter (Catawba Ridge); Ian Madsen (Catawba Ridge); Dylan Dority (Catawba Ridge); Logan Anderson (Clover); Bryce Jones (Rock Hill goalie); Austin Kennington (Andrew Jackson goalie); Braden Gritz (Legion Collegiate); Colin Muschik (Legion Collegiate); Jackson Turner (Legion Collegiate).

GIRLS SOCCER

Player of the Year: Emma Sexton, Catawba Ridge

Coach of the Year: Robert Schmidt, Catawba Ridge

FIRST TEAM

Emma Sexton, Catawba Ridge.

Burns Brazzell, Northwestern: The All-State, All-Region and North-South All-Star notched 12 goals and four assists in 11 games. The senior midfielder signed to play with USC Lancaster next year.

Emily Morris, Nation Ford: The Falcons fought their way to an Upper State title appearance in 2021 — and their starting midfield senior had a lot to do with it. Morris, the Region 3-5A Player of the Year and an All-State selection and a Wake Forest commit, notched 14 goals and 15 assists this past season. Morris was critical in her team’s playoff run. She scored the game-winning penalty kick against Riverside in the first round of the playoffs, and then she went on to score a goal and add three assists in a 4-0 win over Blythewood in the second round. Nation Ford then fell in a heartbreaker to JL Mann in the Upper State final game, 1-0.

Alondra Nieves, Clover: The senior forward had 14 goals and six assists this season — adding to her 66 goals and 23 assists for her three-year career at Clover. The All-Region, All-State and Georgia State commit helped lead the Blue Eagles to a second-round appearance in the 5A state playoffs.

Sammi Wolf, Clover: The senior midfielder earned All-Region and All-State selections in 2021.

Allison Evans, Fort Mill: Voted the team’s MVP at the end of the season, the midfielder scored nine goals and added 15 assists as a junior.

Ava Robitaille, South Pointe: The junior forward scored 24 goals in 12 games.

Taryn Chase, Nation Ford: The senior defensive midfielder was a North-South All-Star selection and scored two goals and added six assists.

Maren White, Catawba Ridge: The captain midfielder recorded 14 goals and seven assists in her senior season. She was also an All-Region and North-South selection and will be playing at Lander University next year.

Darby Grigg, Northwestern: Grigg, a 2021 All-Region and All-State selection, notched a team-leading 15 goals and three assists in 11 games played. She is only a sophomore.

(Goalie) Shyann Holt, Catawba Ridge: The junior goalie of Catawba Ridge had 13 shutouts in 17 games and only allowed eight goals all season.

(Goalie) Katelyn Carroll, Nation Ford: The sophomore All-Region selection was fantastic in 2021. On the season, she recorded 78 saves (with a .630 goals-against average), and she was in the net for 12 wins (and nine shutouts).

SECOND TEAM

Jasmine Nixon (Indian Land); Harleigh Payne (Andrew Jackson); Johnnie Grace Garon (Legion Collegiate); Adrienne Cooper (Catawba Ridge); Kyleen Bents (Catawba Ridge); Sarah Sexton (Catawba Ridge); Ruby Stayduhar (Catawba Ridge); Riley Cota (Nation Ford); Kami Myrup (York Prep); Olivia Mcpherson (Clover); Jadelyn Taylor (Clover); Savannah Mellon (Clover); Jerzee Bochinski (Northwestern); Kierstin Lollis (Northwestern); Alyssa Bollmer (Fort Mill); Dylan Harder (Fort Mill); Kennedy Little (Fort Mill); Hannah Austin (South Pointe).

This story was originally published June 16, 2021 at 6:30 AM.

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.