The Shady Spring girls along with the PikeView boys reached the peak of the Class AA-A Region 3, Section 1 soccer mountain Saturday.
The Tigers knocked off Bluefield to secure its first sectional title since 2011, while the Panthers subdued Shady Spring 2-0 for the boys’ crown.
As tough as those sectional victories were to come by, that effort will pale in comparison to what lies ahead in Tuesday’s regional championship tilt at Schoenbaum Field in Charleston.
Waiting for both teams will be perennial soccer power Charleston Catholic.
Since the soccer state tournament was split into classes in 2008 both Irish squads have bigtime players on the state tournament stage.
The Lady Irish have captured seven state titles since the split, including the last two in a row. Prior to the recent back-to-back titles, the girls had finished runner-up three consecutive seasons.
“They do everything well that we try to teach. They play the ball to the corners and then back negative to the middle. They can shoot from way out and they are lethal. They don’t miss.” Shady Spring head coach Joey Beckett said. “They work well together, and they move the ball. It is going to be a challenge.”
Charleston Catholic enters the girls clash at 16-5 with four of the losses coming against Class AAA powers. The lone loss in class was a 1-0 setback to Williamstown over a month back.
A trio of juniors lead Catholic and have accounted for 47 goals on the season.
Claire Mullen leads the Lady Irish with 18 goals and seven assists, followed by Shannon Karr who has found the back of the net 16 times along with five assists. The third member of the trio is Annie Cimino with 13 goals and seven assists.
Sophomore forward Hannah Sullivan and senior midfielder Jill Uy have combined for 14 assists on the season.
The Tigers will counter with a strong scoring threesome of their own in senior Izzy Workman, junior Mallie Lawson and sophomore Charlotte McGinnis. All three scored in the sectional championship win over Bluefield.
“We are starting to play better soccer than we have been. We usually start slow and then we get going,” Beckett said.
If Shady Spring (7-7-1) is to pull the upset Tuesday, it will need another strong effort from the defensive back line anchored by senior Ryen Keffer and two sophomores, Katie Garrett and Lilly Hatfield.
“They are really good players and we have had some other people step up. Reece Keffer is a 9th-grader, and she was back there too, but she hurt her wrist Saturday,” Beckett said. “We have Brooke Lipford that can come in and I can also move Kellie Adkins back. I have a few that can play in different places.”
Beckett feels if his defense can stem the tide early that Shady could give the Irish some trouble.
“(Charleston Catholic) feeds off themselves, but if they can’t score, they can get impatient,” Beckett went on to say. “Defense will be the key because we won’t win a shootout. If it goes goal for goal, we are not going to win that game. Hopefully we can keep them off the board.”
PikeView has kept a clean sheet through the postseason but will face a stiff test from the Irish strikers.
The Charleston Catholic (15-3-2) boys team enters regional play on a 13-match winning streak which has included wins over Winfield, Bridgeport, Cabell Midland and Morgantown.
The boys are led by juniors Sully Groom with 24 goals and Kelan Swan with 17 goals. The Irish have scored 71 goals on the season with 68 coming via an assist.
Swan has 20 assists, while Groom has 12 and sophomore Sam Delgra has contributed 11 assists.
The Irish have also yet to be scored upon in the postseason.
The Panthers will counter with a solid scoring duo in junior Jonathan Mitchell who has 20 goals and senior Kaleb Dunn who has scored 13 times this year. Dunn also has 12 assists on the season.
From 2009 to 2014, Charleston Catholic won five state titles. The only year they did not win was 2013 when the Panthers brought home the hardware to Gardner. Catholic was also the state runner-up last year.
Gametime for the boys is 5 p.m., while the girls game will be contested 30 minutes following the conclusion of game one.
