North Gwinnett’s girls soccer team is determined to get back to the finals of the Class AAAAA finals again this year after losing to Harrison in the 2011 title game.
East Coweta learned that lesson the hard way Wednesday night, falling to last year’s state runner-up 5-0 in the second round of this year state tournament.
The Lady Indians gave up a quick goal to the Lady Bulldogs to open the game, but still managed to keep the contest close until late in the opening half.
North Gwinnett then caught fire, scoring three goals in the final 7:50 of the first half to seize the momentum
The loss ends East Coweta’s season with a 15-5 record, but head coach Chris Luppens is happy with the way his team fought throughout the year.
“We are the two-time region champions, and the Coweta Cup champs. nobody likes to lose, but I’m so proud of the way the girls played.
At times this year, East Coweta looked unstoppable, earning a place in the Class AAAAA top-10 for the first time in school history and also shutting out every Region 2-AAAAA opponent.
It was not to be on Wednesday.
The tide turned in the Lady Bulldogs favor early in the game as it scored four times on just six shots in the first half.
Jessice Eberhardt broke free from the East Coweta defense at the 36:22 mark of the first half to give the Lady Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Indians as they only put four shots on goal in the first half.
Serenity Waters had the first two good scoring chances for East Coweta early in the first half.
With 31:13 left in the first half, Waters dribbled into box, but Austin McCausland came out of the net and stopped the shot.
East Coweta’s hopes of tying the game six minutes later were dashed when Anna Lauzon’s feed the ball to Jordan Grant on a corner kick, but her header missed the mark.
Taylor Burns started the Lady Bulldogs flurry of goals when she took control of the ball inside the East Coweta box, dribbled around the defense and put the ball into the net. Less than three minutes later, Burns struck again to give the Lady Bulldogs a 3-0 lead.
Brook Brotles then got into the scoring act for the Lady Bulldogs with 2:47 left in the first half to give North Gwinnett a 4-0 lead.
Five minutes into the second half, Raina Davis added the final goal of the night when she rebounded a missed shot and converted the her second shot.
East Coweta had few opportunities to produce a comeback, managing just two shots in the second half.
Waters had the best scoring chance in the second half, but again McCausland rose to the challenge.
The loss ends the high school careers for seven seniors
“I inherited these girls when I first tool over the program, and they bought into everything we tried to teach. These are my girls, they are like my daughters, so when they lose, I hurt for them.”
