Tuesday March 19th, 2024 10:05AM

Girls soccer: Lady Wolves roll into 3rd round; St. Pius up next (VIDEO)

By Jeff Hart Sports Reporter

BUFORD -- Buford girls soccer coach Crystal Fowler wanted to see some variety from her offense Tuesday in the second round of the Class AAAA state playoffs..

She got it, as five different players scored and seven different players recorded assists in a 10-0 dismantling of Mary Persons at the Buford Community Stadium.

“I didn’t want to see two players get four or five goals,” Fowler said. “We are much better when we share the ball, and I thought we had great distribution throughout the lineup. The girls were patient and I think that opened things up.”

The win pushed No. 2-ranked Buford into the quarterfinals for the first time since 2013 and a showdown with No. 4 St. Pius on Friday at home. It was the Lady Wolves 10th straight victory with nine shutouts. (NOTE: The Lady Wolves were one of five area girls teams to win on Tuesday and secure a state quarterfinal berth, as Chestatee, Dawson County, Lumpkin County and Union County also proved victorious. To see a complete list of area scores and a quartefinal schedule, see below.)

It was a dominating performance for the Lady Wolves (14-1) against a Mary Persons defense that had allowed just three total goals over its past six games and had not allowed more than two goals in any match this season.

The Lady Bulldogs, which finished the year at 17-3, got a tremendous effort from German exchange student Antonia Kiwit in goal. Fowler knew Kiwit would offer a challenge to her shooters.

“We knew she was real good coming in and we talked about being patient and getting open looks. (Kiwit) made some great saves in the first half but we just kept the pressure on,” Fowler said.

Elexa Bahr would have her second consecutve four-goal game for Buford, but she did not tally a goal until midway through the second half when the Lady Wolves (14-1) had already built a 4-0 lead.

Unlike in the first round against Northwest Whitfield, Buford came out aggressive to start against the Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Wolves generated a free kick less than two minutes in but could not get a clean shot off.

Less than a minute later, however, the Lady Wolves intercepted a Mary Persons pass and Hannah Davis ripped a 30-yard blast that was mishandled by Kiwit and the ball trickled in with 37:17 left and a 1-0 lead..

The Lady Wolves kept the pressure on Kiwit over the next 10 minutes.

Kiwit would make a beautiful save on a crossing pass to stop a potential header and then 30 seconds later with 30:37 left Kiwit denied Bahr on a point-blank-range shot off a throw-in. A Brie Smith blast from 25-yards out was stopped by Kiwit with 27:45 left.

“We started much quicker (Tuesday) which was good to see,” Fowler said. “We’ll need to keep doing that (as long as we advance).”

With the score still 1-0, Mary Persons best scoring came with 24;43 left when the Lady Bulldogs were awarded a free kick from 17-yards just outside the box after a rare handball call on keeper Lane Crawford when she hesitated on whether to kick or grab a high bouncing pass outside of the box. But the shot by the Lady Bulldogs’ Emily Barnes sailed just high.

Buford answered that with a long run down the right side that resulted in two scoring chances within the next 90 seconds but both were denied by Kiwit. Elexa Bahr had a chance to add on with 19:08 left but her chip shot off a cross hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced out for Kiwit to grab.

The Lady Wolves’ hard work would finally pay off in the final 12 minutes. They made it a 2-0 lead with 11:49 left in first half when Brooke Horist chipped in a short shot from right of the goal off a bending corner pass from Ambria Shutts.

The Lady Bulldogs would register their second scoring chance on a shot with 10:40 left after a high bouncing pass but Crawford was able to knock it down for the save. Buford got a breakout attack a minute later that resulted in their sixth corner of the half but just missed on a header attempt.

Two minutes Kylie Buchanan narrowly missed on a 15-yard blast that scraped the top of the crossbar with 7:50 left in the half.

The Lady Wolves kept up the pressure and capped a frantic final 30 seconds with two corners with Horist getting her second goal of the half off a cross from Peyton Woods with 9.6 seconds left for a 3-0 lead.

“We knew (Mary Persons) was vulnerable on the outside so we just tried to exploit that as much as possible,” Fowler said. “Hannah had some runs for us but I thought everyone did a good job.”

Kiwit finished with five saves in the first save and would record 13 for the game. Almost all of them saved sure-fire goals as Buford repeatedly broke down the Lady Bulldogs defense.

The second half started much the same as the first half. Buford went on the attack early with Brie Smith getting her fifth goal of the playoffs drilling a shot past a diving Kiwit off a pass from Davis from Maria Maggio for a 4-0 lead with 38:56 in the match.

Bahr then caught fire with all four of her goals in an 11-minute span.

She added her fifth goal of the playoffs on a beautiful 25-yard bender just over a leaping Kiwit for a 5-0 lead with 28:34 left and got her second goal of the match two minutes later chipping in a laser-beam cross from Kristen Edmund for a 6-0 lead. She made it a hat trick with 20:57 left on a 27-yard blast past a diving Kiwit for a 7-0 lead and Bahr got her fourth goal with 17:19 left off a nice Natalie Stevenson pass for an 8-0 lead.

It would be over three minutes later when Maggio got a goal off a pass from Edmund for a 9-0 lead and Smith chipped in a shot with 14:39 left, her second of the game, to invoke the Mercy Rule.

As for the expected matchup with St. Pius, which knocked them out of the 2013 Class AAA playoffs in the semifinals, Fowler said they feel ready but also know it will be the biggest challenge of the season so far. The Lady Golden Lions whipped Pike County 7-0 on the road on Tuesday.

“We’re different from a couple of years ago,” Fowler said. “I think our confidence level is much higher right now and you need to be confident against a team like St. Pius. But we’re taking it is as just the next match."

 

GIRLS STATE SOCCER PLAYOFF RESULTS
Tuesday, Second Round
Class AAAA

Buford 10, Mary Persons 0
Chestatee 5, West Laurens 1

Class AAA
Lumpkin County 2, Pierce County 0
Dawson County 5, Peach County 1
Savannah Arts 2, West Hall 1

Class AA
Union County 6, Thomasville 0

Class A
Fellowship Christian 8, Lakeview Academy 0

 

STATE QUARTERFINALS SCHEDULE
Friday
Class AAAA

Chestatee at Woodward Academy
St. Pius at Buford

Class AAA
Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe at Lumpkin County
Dawson County at Westminster

Class AA
Lovett at Union County

  • Associated Categories: Sports, High School Sports
  • Associated Tags: Region 8-AAAA, High school soccer, Buford girls soccer
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