SOCCER ROUNDUP: West Laurens boys edged in OT, but still win region; Dublin, East Laurens end regular season

A 3-2 overtime loss at Aquinas last Thursday night spoiled the West Laurens boys’ perfect finish, as well as their shot at the top overall seed in the playoffs. But the Raiders (18-1, 13-1 region) still secured the 4-AAA title, and fell only two spots to No. 3 in the draw, where their road to at least the state semifinals will still run through The SHU. 

Despite the unfortunate ending to the regular season, which also included a 2-0 loss for the West Laurens girls, both teams’ focus quickly shifted the postseason, which began in winning fashion for the Lady Raiders in a 1-0 victory at Bainbridge Tuesday night. 

The boys were hopeful to make it a second first-round win in region rematch with Howard (which they defeated by scores of 2-1 and 3-1 in the regular season) Tuesday night. 

Aquinas scored both the first two goals in Thursday’s match, one midway through the opening half and a second just out of halftime, to give itself a strong chance at the win. 

But the Fightin’ Irish needed more than a simple victory, rather one by a specific margin, in order to take the region title from the hands of the Raiders, who had won their first meeting of the season by two. 

A trip-up foul called on Aquinas at the top of the box set up a PK for Jack Yearwood, who went left to make it a 2-1 game, and threw some complications into that arrangement with just under 30 minutes left in the match. 

Unable to score for a third time in regulation, Aquinas resorted to conceding an own goal – its goalkeeper turning to hit the ball in with the back of his heel as he set up for a goal kick – with 90 seconds to play, forcing overtime and buying 20 minutes of extra time. 

The ploy neither benefitted the Irish, nor backfired, as they simply recouped the goal they gave up with roughly two and a half minutes left to play as a simple cross was inadvertently bumped into the net. 

But it was Aquinas’ last shot. 

Dublin and East Laurens also concluded their regular seasons Thursday night on the wrong side of sweeps by ACE Charter and Vidalia. 

The Lady Irish (3-12, 4-6 region 2-High A) were shut out 10-0, though the Dublin boys (3-10, 1-6 region) put up a frisky fight before falling 2-1 as senior night brought an end to both teams’ seasons in the Shamrock Bowl. 

The ACE girls scored eight times in the first half, and coasted through the second with just one additional goal before the match came to an end with their 10th around seven minutes to go. 

A goal went each way in the first five minutes of the hard-fought boys match, with the Irish striking first only 80 seconds in as Urick Andrews navigated a minefield of defenders and – refusing to be denied – dodged one last guy before punching in a shot to stake them to a 1-0 lead. 

But the edge was brief, as ACE tied it back moments later when a corner set piece produced a foul in the box, and an equalizing PK. 

The match was a dead heat from there, through halftime. But the Gryphons got back on top about 10 minutes post-halftime. A man was lightly tripped up from behind to set up a long free kick. Sohan Patel played his initial hit off the rebound from a defender, but immediately busted a low line drive that got inside the left post to give ACE its final 2-1 lead. 

The East Laurens girls (8-10, 5-3 region 2-High A) kept Thursday’s match at Vidalia scoreless through a half, but gave up two goals after the break that amounted to the 2-0 final. 

The Indians, led by hat tricks from Dakota Brannon and Lake Wright, won the boys’ match 8-0. 

Both sets of Falcons went on the road for first-round playoff action, the girls with the bracket’s No. 26 seed. They were shut out 10-0 by Bremen on Tuesday night. 

The Eastside boys (9-8, 4-3 region 2-High A) will have a comparatively shorter ride on their hands as they make a short hop over to Eastman for a rematch with region rival Dodge County on Wednesday. 

Trinity’s soccer teams ran into some buzzsaws as they closed out the week at Central Fellowship last Friday. 

The Lady Crusaders (11-2, 9-1 region) surrendered the match’s only two goals (by the Lancers’ Layla Wagner and Lois Tanner) in the second half, and suffered their first GIAA loss of the year. 

Jagger George (who led the front line with six of 11 shots) had a goal in each half, but CFCA, via Jake Stanage and Ivan Sears, scored twice in the second to end regulation with a 2-2 draw. And the Trinity boys (9-3-1, 8-1 region) were ultimately blanked 2-0 in the penalty kick shootout. 

Trinity swept Vidalia Heritage as it returned home Tuesday night. The Crusaders will host FPD on Thursday.