BUFORD — The Buford girls used a quick five-minute barrage to bag a pair of goals and then cruised to a 3-0 win over Cass Tuesday in the first round of the Class 5A soccer playoffs.
The three goals were almost as many as the Lady Colonels had allowed over their previous 10 matches combined (five total), but Buford coach Drew Eager still wore the look of frustration afterwards.
The Lady Wolves (9-9-1) broke out on top quickly as Julia Lewis banged in a rebound off a Angeli Burgos shot for a 1-0 lead less than two minutes in. They made it 2-0 just five minutes later when Sydney McCullough banked in a 25-yard blast off the right post with 33:07 left off a Ava Sherman pass.
The two teams played to a stalemate the rest of the first half despite Buford spending the majority of time on the Lady Colonels’ side of the field. The Lady Wolves managed five corners and 8 shots while holding Cass to no official shots in the first half.
“Soccer is like that sometimes,” Eager said. “(After those two early goals) we got away from what got us those goals. But this is a young team and they needed the experience of the playoffs.”
Cass (11-8) did not record its one and only shot of the match until the 46th minute but Buford keeper Kayla Kim sustained the shutout with her only save of the match.
Buford continued to push the ball getting a flurry of attempts over the next 10 minutes. Heidi Orr had a run down the right side but her cross was just out of reach by two Lady Wolves in front of the net with 30 minutes left.
Lewis nearly had her second goal on a blast from 15 yards out two minutes later. Bullock made a tremendous one-handed save on Arden Paulino’s direct kick from 20 yards out and Paulino had another blast two minutes later that Bullock again thwarted.
Orr produced another run, this time down the left, and her shot just nicked the crossbar as Cass again dodged a bullet. But Buford continued the onslaught with four more shots from inside the box.
For the match Buford unleashed 20 shots on goal to just to one for Cass but went 64 minutes between goals as they had ample opportunities to blow the it open.
“We did a good of possessing the ball but just couldn’t find that last touch to finish some plays,” Eager said. “We can build on that and try to get better for the next round.”
Ava Hatzilias gave the Lady Wolves the breathing room they needed as she smoked a 10-yard blast into upper-left corner past a diving Bullock for a 3-0 lead with 8:48 left.
Now the Lady Wolves will turn their attention to a likely rematch against No. 2 Decatur, which handed them a 7-2 defeat back in February.
“Decatur is a perennial power, and we know what they can do,” Eager said. “But we’re a little more experienced now. Hopefully we’ll fare better this time around.”
