State soccer champions!
Lady Panthers shut out Northgate 2-0 to take the title
The Lady Panthers celebrate their 2-0 win over Northgate to take the AAAAA girls’ soccer state championship. Junior Lauren Yoss scored in the 18th minute to give her teammates a lead that they would keep for the entire game. The Lady Panthers’ soccer program now has six state titles.
May 26, 2015
For the first time since 2010, the Lady Panthers’ soccer team won gold in a moment that was truly special for the seniors. The Lady Panthers were knocked out in the Elite Eight in their freshman year. In their sophomore season, the girls made the Final Four. As juniors, they finished as the state AAAAA runner-up, and now, they finally have the championship they’ve been waiting for.
The Panthers shut out Northgate 2-0 on Friday, May 15, to take the coveted state title, the sixth in school history. The last time the girls won state was in 2010.
The Panthers started off strong by moving the ball smoothly and by not letting the Lady Vikings move the ball around. Junior Lauren Yoss scored first off a pass from sophomore Ashley Broderick in the 18th minute of play. Junior Riley Clark and senior Kayla Feigenbaum were able to create a lot of chances on offense and to keep the ball in their possession throughout the first half.
They added another goal in the 35th minute as Yoss and Clark attacked the goal. Yoss found Clark across the field and passed it directly to her. As Clark was attacking, the Viking defender attempted to clear the ball but sent it into her own net to put the Panthers up 2-0 going into the half.
“We played really hard the first half,” Yoss said. “We came out with a lot of intensity and showed how we were the better team.”
At the start of the second half, the Panthers almost had another goal as Clark headed the ball in but the Panthers were called for a penalty to give the Vikings a break. As the clock ticked down, the game became intense, and it was a tough physical matchup between both teams who traveled to Macon for the title game.
The Panthers took this as an opportunity to keep their lead where it was. “Our defense shut them down and didn’t let them do anything they wanted,” sophomore Ashton Nowicki said.
Head Coach John Bowen said he was not satisfied with their lead. “We knew that we weren’t done.” Bowen watching his girls
Junior Riley Clark takes a shot on goal against the tough Northgate defense. Clark, who had a stellar regular season, was close to scoring on multiple opportunities.
continue to frustrate the Northgate players until the game ended with the Lady Panthers running out the clock in Northgate territory.
“It felt so good to get that championship after getting so close before,” senior Carly Pressgrove said.
