SOCCER ROUNDUP: West Laurens boys stay unbeaten; Dublin girls get first win; East Laurens sweeps Hawkinsville

The 2026 soccer season gained steam as local teams covered some good ground in matches, both region and non-region, over the past two weeks. 

The West Laurens boys improved their record to 4-0 by defeating Howard 2-1 Feb. 12, Harlem 4-1 Feb. 20 and East Laurens 10-1 this past Monday night. 

The Lady Raiders suffered their first region loss in a 1-0 heartbreaker against Harlem, but posted two other shutouts, 7-0 of Howard and 8-0 of East, in the sequence of matches. 

Both close out this week on the road with region games at Baldwin and the Academy of Richmond County. 

While the Falcons’ cross-county trip to start the week didn’t go as well, both their clubs picked up wins in a sweep at Hawkinsville last Friday, the girls by a final of 3-2 and boys 4-1 

East will host Washington Wilkes for two on Tuesday before continuing the homestand with its region openers against Jefferson County on Thursday. 

Dublin’s girls picked up their first win of the season as they traveled to take on the Warriors last Tuesday, and grabbed a 1-0 victory. The Irish boys fell to JeffCo in a penalty kick shootout after preserving a 2-2 draw through the end of regulation and overtime. 

The Lady Irish visit Johnson County Tuesday night in Dublin’s lone match before its teams’ home debut Feb. 3 against Swainsboro. 

A goal with just under three minutes left in the second half broke a late 1-1 tie to help the West Laurens boys avoid overtime, and edge Howard last Thursday week. 

A long free kick, which bounced just right at the top of the end zone blue to get past the Huskies’ keeper, was guided into the open net by Dalton Oxford for the winning score. 

It came more than 55 minutes after an initial score by the Raiders in the first six of the match, as Oxford ran down a long ball in the upper left corner and hammered it in. 

Howard’s Emanuel Kiza would even the count at 1-each on a penalty kick around the 30-minute mark of the second half. 

Earlier in the night, the Lady Raiders scored their first goal before the clock could even get started, as Malone Poole punched in a cross from her right seconds from the kickoff amid some technical difficulties for the scoreboard timer. 

Selah Lanton stretched their lead to 2-0 around the 23-minute mark of the first half, then Poole found the net again on a 25-yard firecracker a little under 60 seconds later. 

A third consecutive goal, on Jiya Patel’s towering free kick from distance, followed in about three minutes’ time. 

The lead went to 5-0 via own goal just after the half, as a West Laurens corner kick was deflected awkwardly toward the Howard keeper, and she couldn’t get a handle as it rolled by with 37 minutes still to play. 

Goal 6 came at 10:45 to complete a Poole hat trick from roughly 20 yards away in the middle. Raidyn Joiner dribbled and scored from the left a little more than a minute later for the seventh and last. 

The difference in the Lady Raiders’ 1-0 loss to Harlem the following Friday was a penalty kick by Kamryn Simmons, which resulted from a whistle for a glancing handball in the box. 

She curled the ball into the left side net to put the Lady Dogs on top with just under 17 minutes left in the match, and it remained scoreless for the home team the rest of the way. 

The defensive trend continued as the boys match began in a downpour, though West Laurens broke it up with several consecutive goals out of halftime. 

The Raiders dented the scoreboard within five minutes as Judd Walker headed in the corner kick of Corban Kersey. After 20 more minutes, Jack Yearwood made it 2-0 with a putback shot, banging in the rebound after his initial shot bounced back off the hands of the Harlem keeper. 

Oxford got bumped into and sent to the line for a penalty kick at the 13-minute mark, and scored on a left-footer to stretch their lead to a commanding 3-0. 

Harlem would get on the board shortly after as a free kick by Liam Albuquerque from up the line in the corner floated home. 

West Laurens answered it in the last 90 seconds, as Yearwood played the ball ahead to Payton Everly for a one-on-one shot to regain the final three-goal margin. 

It was all Raiders, and Lady Raiders, in Monday’s matches with the Eastside. 

Poole scored the first two for the girls, punching in a ball that rolled to the left of the box eight minutes in, then sending home a rocket from the right sideline to make it 2-0 in the last few minutes of the half. 

The Lady Raiders added another score in the first three minutes of the second half, as Hadley Green dribbled one unchallenged all the way down before rolling one in to the left side. She crossed it for Kristin Ivey’s shot to make it 4-0 with 29 to go. 

A long left-footed strike, likely by Poole, followed to increase the lead to five with 22 minutes left. And it grew to seven as Hall found the net twice in a row on shots about 10 minutes apart. Lanton and Ivey added the last two to the West Laurens count in the final five minutes. 

Oxford crossed the ball for two goals, on a Truett Bainbridge header and Bryson Morgan shot, to stake the Westside boys to their early lead in the first 12 minutes. Everly buried a shot from the left side to tack on quickly, and it was 3-0 in advance of a lone East Laurens goal via PK. 

Jamari Harvey was brought down on a slide tackling foul that brought about the free chance, and John Thang banked his shot in off the left post to get the Falcons within two going into the break. 

But the Raiders added seven unanswered goals upon their return, as corners were headed in by Everly, then Chase Dudley. Clark Nelson made it 6-1 with a left-footer, then hit a long bomb from nearly 40 yards out on the right side to get the home total ot seven. 

Dudley got a left-footer to curl in for the eighth, and finished off a deflection in the box for the 10th, with Walker heading home a corner in the middle to round out the scoring. 

The East Laurens girls captured their first win of the year in sudden death penalty kicks Friday night at Hawkinsville, after regulation ended with a 2-2 score. 

Both Hawkinsville goals were by Ellie Romero, one in the first few minutes and the last on a penalty kick to tie it back up with 26 minutes to go in the match. 

In between were two scores within about three minutes to put the Lady Falcons in the lead. Joselin Ramirez knocked home a left-footed equalizer with 6:35 left, and Maggie Foskey put in a go-ahead with 4:11 to go. 

The East Laurens boys’ Luis Roman pounded one in off the head from a corner kick in the first five minutes for an early lead. 

Hawkinsville’s keeper got a fingertip on Thang’s shot to knock it wide, but his ensuing corner kick would find a red shin to carom in for a second Falcon goal. 

He’d go in again off a cross from the top of the box with 28 minutes left in the half. Kamari LaGroon scored off a PK with 15 left to give East a 4-0 halftime lead. 

Hawkinsville’s only goal came in response with 25 minutes left in the match. 

Amariah Taylor scored off the assist of Brayleigh Edmond in the second half to give the Dublin girls Tuesday’s 1-0 victory at Jefferson County. A shootout decided the boys’ match for the Warriors, as the teams traded a goal each in regulation and one each in the second 10 minutes of overtime. 

Alexander Ramirez scored both for JeffCo.