The Chattanooga Christian girls’ soccer team had to bounce back twice for Saturday’s Class A/AA state soccer sectional match.
After losing a third straight time to rival Notre Dame in Thursday’s Region 4 final, the Lady Chargers needed to quickly regroup before playing on the road against 3-A/AA champion Grace Academy.
And then, after losing its lead against the Lady Golden Eagles, CCS issued an even quicker response.
The Lady Chargers led for 30 minutes and were tied for less than one before Hannah Henry scored the game-winner in a 2-1 victory that puts CCS in the state tournament Wednesday in Murfreesboro.
“This was really big for our team,” Henry said.
“Notre Dame is a huge rival for us, and after losing for a third time to them, it was kind of hard to bounce back and play two days later. There was a lot of pressure on us.”
CCS coach Cal Sneller watched his team struggle with its energy level Saturday after playing 20 minutes of overtime on Thursday. Meanwhile, Grace Academy came out pushing for the sectional match, but couldn’t connect for a goal in the first half.
With three minutes remaining before halftime, Henry broke through for CCS when she scored off a corner kick from Leah Hoffman to put the Lady Chargers out front.
“They gave us a great battle, but you know Grace is always going to,” Sneller said. “They played with a lot of energy, and we played with near nothing. Thursday about killed us. Three games in a week is a lot.”
Both teams had several second-half scoring opportunities, and with 13:27 left to play, Grace finally finished one. Kayla Bibbs took possession after a header inside the box, and won the one-on-one matchup for the equalizer.
So frustrated at watching his team give up that score, Sneller nearly missed the response on the other end, which came less than a minute later. Henry fired off a shot after taking a ball from Kyra Duble, and scored what proved to be the game winner.
“I don’t ever think our girls should get scored on, so I get frustrated when we do,” Sneller said. “But the girls came back with a spurt where they wanted to score, and they did. They don’t get behind that often, and you never know how they’re going to react. I thought they responded very well in this game.”
The Lady Chargers’ defense made the 2-1 lead hold up over the final minutes, marking the third one-goal game for CCS in the past five days. CCS will take an 11-6-4 record into the state tournament beginning Wednesday in Murfreesboro, while Grace Academy ends the year 16-6.
“We could’ve won this game, but it just didn’t go our way,” Lady Golden Eagles coach Gretchen Hammel said. “It’s a heartbreaker. CCS is a strong team, and we don’t have the numbers they do. When we get tired, it hurts us. But I’m proud of them.
“For how small our program is, how far we make it every year is amazing to me. My girls have overcome so much this season. They’ve had so many ups and downs, but they’ve shown such character.”
(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)