Three defending champs and three first-time winners were among the eight teams crowned state champions in the GHSA girls soccer finals last week at McEachern High School and Mercer University.
Westminster won its state-record seventh consecutive championship when it defeated Greater Atlanta Christian 4-0 in the Class 3A final. The state title was the 15th overall for the Wildcats, the most for any school since the GHSA first sanctioned championships in the sport in 1992. Westminster also defeated its Region 5 rival in the 2021 final.
Henley Tippins had a first-half goal and Evelyn Shores scored early in the second before Allie Ross knocked in two goals in the final 26 minutes. Ross, a junior committed to Virginia, finished the season with a team-high 49 goals, including 15 in a five-game playoff run during which the Wildcats outscored their opponents 45-1.
Lovett defeated region rival Pace Academy 2-1 in the Class 2A final for its second consecutive state title and fifth overall. Leslie Lewallen scored on a header in the second half to break a 1-1 tie. Lovett’s Parker Silliman and Pace Academy’s Adair Smith also scored goals. Lovett won 4-0 when the teams met on March 29 in the regular season.
Pace Academy, which lost to Bremen in the 2021 semifinals, was seeking its first championship since 2014 and fourth overall.
West Forsyth won its second consecutive Class 7A championship in dramatic fashion when it outlasted Mill Creek 3-2 in overtime. Michelle Moskau scored on a free kick from just outside the penalty box with 39 seconds remaining in overtime for the victory. Abby Graeser and Ella Grace Williams scored for Mill Creek, while West Forsyth got goals from Abby Batts and Alexia Force. Mill Creek was seeking its first championship.
Bringing home championships for the first time were Chamblee, Pinecrest Academy and Social Circle.
Chamblee became the first DeKalb County public school to win a girls soccer state championship when it defeated Midtown 8-1 in the Class 5A final. The Bulldogs scored four goals in the game’s first nine minutes and cruised to the victory. Ansley Harrison and Solai Washington had three goals each and Kara Croone added two for the Bulldogs, who finished 22-1-1 and set the DeKalb County Schools record for victories in a season.
Pinecrest Academy knocked off defending champion Holy Innocents’ 1-0 to win the Class A Private title. Ivey Crain scored the game-winner with 10:38 remaining in the first half. Crain’s goal was the only one allowed in the playoffs by Holy Innocents’, which had outscored its opponents 21-0 in the first four rounds. The championship was the first in any GHSA sport for Pinecrest Academy, which will leave the GHSA to become a full-time member of the Georgia Association of Private and Parochial Schools this fall.
Social Circle defeat region rival Commerce 6-4 in overtime in a Class A Public final that matched two teams that were knocked out in the second round last year and were seeking their first titles. Chloe Diaz and Ivy Tolbert scored two goals each for Commerce, but Social Circle’s Peyton Brooks had four, including a game-tying goal in regulation and another in overtime. Social Circle and Commerce split two regular-season meetings.
Perennial power Marist won its first title since 2018 but 11th overall (fourth-most in GHSA history) when it defeated Jefferson 1-0 in overtime. Freshman Mary Margaret Fligg scored the game’s only goal in the first overtime period. Marist didn’t allow a goal in the playoffs and outscored its opponents 27-0 in the five games.
Lassiter of Class 6A won its second championship in six seasons when it defeated Cambridge in a game decided by penalty kicks. The teams were scoreless through regulation and overtime, but Lassiter’s Celeste Nader, Riley Christopher and Campbell converted penalty kicks, and Malia Loadwick blocked four of Cambridge’s six attempts to preserve the victory.
“It’s not normal to stop four penalty kicks,” Lassiter coach Robbie Galvin told John Bednarowski of the Marietta Daily Journal. “She stood on her head [Friday}.”
Championship scores:
Class 7A
West Forsyth 3, Mill Creek 2
Class 6A
Lassiter 1, Cambridge 0
Class 5A
Chamblee 8, Midtown 1
Class 4A
Marist 1, Jefferson 0
Class 3A
Westminster 4, Greater Atlanta Christian 0
Class 2A
Lovett 2, Pace Academy 1
Class A Private
Pinecrest Academy 1, Holy Innocents’ 0
Class A Public
Social Circle 6, Commerce 4
About the Author
