SOCCER: Sherwood score breaks up defensive struggle to leave Trinity girls stunned, one win shy of spot in semis

Altogether, there was exactly one break to be had in the defensive stalemate that broke out Wednesday night between Trinity and Sherwood girls soccer teams in the GIAA quarterfinals. 

The Eagles wound up catching it to sneak away with a lone goal near halftime, and hung on to escape Cleve Warnock Field with the 1-0 victory to advance, handing the fourth-seeded Lady Crusaders a stunner in their playoff debut. 

A long-range missile off the foot of Julia Kendrick that found its target just under two minutes from the midpoint was all that could breach the air or ground defenses of either team. 

Sherwood’s, boosted by the sudden lead, were superior over the last 40 minutes as Trinity came up empty in its efforts to strike back. 

“Our girls showed tremendous heart and discipline today,” Sherwood head coach Katie Brasher told The Albany Herald. “They executed our gameplan perfectly and never wavered, even when Trinity Christian applied pressure late.” 

The Lady Crusaders (11-5, 6-2 region) saw a number of potential breakthroughs pass within reach. 

A solid first half produced some decent looks, but their shots came mostly from too far out to stand a chance at getting by Eagle goalkeeper Ariana Whitmire. 

As the second half wore on, the opportunities were fewer and further between as Sherwood’s back line became increasingly obstinate. 

Trinity, forced to summon an extra burst as things grew desperate in the final 10 minutes, seemed to have gotten a bit too worn down by the intense and physical battle leading up. 

It wasn’t the performance the Lady Crusaders, or head coach Kyrstin Freeman, had in mind. 

“I do feel like they wanted it more, probably,” she said. “Unfortunately, that’s kind of what it came down to. We’ve just got to learn from this feeling and that desire to want the game more. Just build that attitude, next season, hopefully we’ll come back harder.” 

Kendrick’s goal glanced in off the hands of Trinity keeper Ellie Quick on a shot from distance that was definitely one of the most ambitious of the afternoon. 

The sophomore took the chance when she saw it as the ball came her way with a clean line from at least 30 yards out on the right-hand side. Quick had the ball played well, but an awkward bounce off of outstretched hands took it over her head and into the net.

Up until that point, Trinity seemed to have the upper hand in the match. 

The Lady Crusaders controlled most of the possession and generated a good many more shots in the early going, though they rarely caught Sherwood out of position, or flat-footed. 

The Eagles’ pressure, more often than not, forced them to move the ball to secondary options, and in many cases rush to try and force a shot before they could zero in. 

Trinity’s best look came off of a Whitmire deflection in the early portion of the half, as a putback by Mary Ramsey Collins banged off the left post. 

Quick was able to collect one off a volleyball bounce in the box to keep it scoreless on Sherwood’s closest call to date roughly three minutes before the Kendrick firecracker broke the silence, and took some definite wind out of Trinity’s sails. 

“It’s hard when you get scored on in a match like this… your head drops a little bit,” Freeman said. “I do feel like we came back and picked our heads back up at the end, we just couldn’t get it in the net. I feel like we out-shot them. We just couldn’t finish.” 

The Lady Crusaders got off a couple of good ones right out of halftime, though Whitmire pounced on Chloe Rozier’s right-footer from nearly point-blank range and, after an ensuing throw-in, a 20-yard blast off the foot of Addie Kendrick took off high, and soared away. 

Sherwood flipped the field for a quick counter, and Quick extracted the ball from a scrum as the Eagles’ Allie Hemmings threatened to poke in a second and potentially match-clinching goal a moment later. 

Both defenses, from there, began to settle in for what resembled a game of ping pong… full-contact ping pong that is. 

Hard slides, and physical contact, went both ways as officials handed out some fouls, along with a couple of yellow cards, that did little to appease several sets of vocal complainants in the stands on either side. 

The Eagles, calls notwithstanding, seemed to bow up as the half progressed, flipping the script from earlier in the match by taking charge of nearly everything in the middle part of the field. 

The lengthy Victoria Huckaby, who denied her Trinity counterparts a chance to win several balls in the air late in the match, served as one of the most frustrating defensive obstacles, though Sherwood defenders seemed to fit into just about every nook and cranny to apply more of their intense pressure, and deflect about every other Crusader pass down the stretch. 

They didn’t put Whitmire in many positions where she had to go out of her way to secure the ball, but she was on top of most everything Trinity sent her way. The senior was credited with a total of four saves. 

“They have a great, solid back line,” Freeman said. “Their center back was a great defender, too. Just shut us down. We weren’t able to get good shots on goal. They made our shots weak, and their keeper looked pretty good, too.” 

Sherwood (15-4, 4-1 region) will challenge No. 1 seed Central Fellowship, which shut out Heritage (of Newnan) 2-0 on Tuesday, as it makes the first of potentially back-to-back trips to Macon for games in the AA “Final Four.” 

A win over the Lancers would put the Eagles into the state championship game set for May 27 a bit further up the road at Stratford.