GAINESVILLE — For about 30 minutes it appeared the first round jinx was back to haunt the Gainesville girls soccer team on Wednesday.
But then Caroline Nabb pounced to provide the stake through the heart to both Paulding County and the jinx -- and the Lady Red Elephants waltzed through the second half en route to a 4-0 victory at City Park that represented their first state playoff success in four years.
"I've been waiting years for this!" said a relieved Margaret Carpenter after helping her squad to a first round win for the first time since 2012. "All week I'd been nervous knowing this was my last chance to do something about it."
The senior midfielder scored a devastating second half goal and set up another for teammate Alyssa Turner, who bagged two strikes on the night. But the biggest goal of the game undoubtedly belonged to Nabb, who danced past a defender before beating Paulding goalkeeper Sarah Cooper one-on-one with 7:28 left in the first half.
"That goal was huge," senior defender Alden Turner said. "It gave us a chance to relax. We started off too hesitant, taking too many touches. But after that goal we calmed down and the goals started coming."
After bossing much of the contest to no avail for the first 30 minutes, Nabb's strike opened the floodgates, and the fourth-ranked Lady Red Elephants (16-2) stormed into the second round.
"I realized they weren't playing their style; they were nervous," Gainesville coach Shelly Garner said. "But once we settled down we really got it going."
Gainesville moves on to play McIntosh at City Park on May 4 -- and after prevailing Wednesday, the squad believes it has the opportunity to do something special.
"This is going to give us that push to go all the way; this is huge for the team and our confidence," Turner said.
Gainesville looked set to bury their first round troubles early on Wednesday but struggled to find the final, killer touch against a Lady Patriots (15-3) team that dropped all 11 players into defense for large stretches of the contest.
But following 32 minutes of frustration, Nabb finally got the Lady Red Elephants off the mark.
After shifting into the center from left wing, the sophomore finally unlocked the Paulding County defense with a deft touch to set herself free inside the Lady Patriots penalty area. Bearing down on the Paulding keeper Nabb kept her head and slotted home from 14 yards for a 1-0 lead with 7:26 left in the first half.
The strike proved just the tonic for a Gainesville team that spent much of the first half pressuring the Lady Patriots to no avail.
Alyssa Turner in particular spent the opening half terrorizing the Paulding defense -- with nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. The junior worked herself a one-on-one with the Paulding keeper just three minutes after kickoff only to see her point blank shot parried.
Gainesville's prolific goal-scorer also came within inches of breaking the deadlock with just 13 minutes left in the first half but could not direct her header on goal after Madi Lochstampfor's inch-perfect cross beat the Lady Patriot defense.
Nab also had her near misses, ripping an 18-yard shot just wide with 24 minutes left in the half.
Yet while Gainesville dominated possession -- Margaret Carpenter and Aneesa Jones controlling midfield -- Paulding did manage to worry the Lady Red Elephants backline on a couple of occasions.
Gabby Stewart's spent most of the half cutting a lonely figure in attack for the Lady Patriots, but the speedster nearly broke through on goal 28 minutes in -- a sure tackle from Elizabeth Duncan finally blocking her route. Gainesville's defense also proved resolute inside the final 10 minutes, denying Stewart again with a critical tackle in the penalty area.
However, Gainesville cruised into the interval with the lead -- and continued to press its advantage the rest of the way.
Those efforts finally paid off for Alyssa Turner, who -- after showing impressive vision and touch -- got her goal off effort more than beauty, as she doubled Gainesville's lead with 25 minutes remaining by bundling in Carpenter's corner kick as it rolled eluded the Paulding defense.
The Lady Red Elephants were far from finished, however. And Carpenter turned from provider to finisher with 19:09 remaining after Lochstampfor rolled an inviting ball into the midfielder's path. The senior obliged with a powerful 22-yard shot that caromed off the crossbar into the back of Paulding keeper Cooper and then into the net for a 3-0 lead.
"I was so ready for that shot," Carpenter said. "Then I saw it go off the crossbar and I thought it might not have scored -- then I saw the (assistant referee's) flag go up and I started celebrating."
Alyssa Turner followed Carpenter's impressive strike with her second of the contest, running on to a through pass in midfield before leaving a defender in her wake to roll a 12-yard shot past Cooper with 14:30 remaining.
The strike rounded out what became a celebratory afternoon, and now Gainesville hopes to keep dancing.
"This has been our goal all year, to get past the first round," Alden Turner said. "Now that we've done that we can do so much more."
