Girls soccer team draws Starr’s Mill

Published 12:18 am Saturday, April 29, 2006

MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County girls soccer team is understandably celebrating Thursday’s 7-2 road victory over Stephenson in the first round of the state Class AAAAA tournament.

But that celebration is leavened with what lies ahead, for the bracket is no friend of the Lady Packers this season.

The other three teams in Colquitt County’s quadrant of the bracket are all ranked in the top 10.

In the other game, No. 8 Pope will meet No. 4 Parkview. The Panthers are 16-3 and have outscored their opposition 69-17. Pope is 11-2-2 and has outscored scored its opponents 50-18.

But neither Parkview nor Pope is ranked as high as the Lady Packers’ second-round opponent, Starr’s Mill. The Lady Panthers are ranked No. 3 in the state with a 13-2-1 record.

Starr’s Mill has allowed just 12 goals and has scored 70 this season. Among its 13 victories is the 9-0 first-round win over Camden County on Thursday.

The second-round matches are scheduled for Wednesday. Colquitt’s girls will travel to Fayetteville to meet the Lady Panthers.

The Lady Packers will take a 13-6 record into the match and will be led by freshman Alba Hernandez, who leads the team with 31 goals.

Her total is more than two times as many as the most goals previously scored in a season by a Colquitt County girls player. Hernandez scored four times in the win over Stephenson on Thursday.

Seven of the eight Region 1-AAAAA teams took advantage of their pairings with Region 2-AAAAA and won their first-round matches on Thursday.

In girls play, Region 1-AAAAA champion Tift County raised its record to 15-1-1 and will play host to Fayette County next week. Fayette County (11-6) advanced with penalty kicks victory over Windsor Forest.

Lowndes eliminated Newton 4-1. The Vikettes advanced to play 11-6 Newnan, which won over Jenkins 5-0 on Thursday.

And Region 1-AAAAA runner-up Houston County had little trouble with Tri-Cities,winning 10-0. The Lady Bears advance to meet East Coweta, a No. 4 seed, which upset No. 1 seeded Glynn Academy 2-1 on Thursday.

Of the eight Region 1-AAAAA soccer teams in the tournament, only the Tift County boys lost. The No. 4 team from Region 1 was tied at the end of regulation with Newton, the Region 2-AAAAA champion, but lost 5-4 in penalty kicks.

Newton advances to play Newnan.

Region 1-AAAAA boys champion Houston County defeated Stephenson 3-1 and will advance to meet Camden County, which shut out Fayette County 1-0 in the first round.

Region 1 runner-up Valdosta down Tri-Cities 2-0 and will face Glynn Academy in the second round. The Terrors advanced with a 5-1 win over East Coweta.

The Lowndes boys advanced with a 7-0 shutout of Morrow. The Vikings will meet Starr’s Mill, which opened the tournament with an 8-0 win over Groves.