Second-half goal lifts LaGrange past Brookstone
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, April 12, 2016
They were short-handed, but they found a way.
The LaGrange Lady Grangers went on the road and came away with a 1-0 soccer victory over Brookstone on a rainy Monday afternoon in Columbus.
It was a scoreless game when Maddie Patton scored on an assist from Ashari Pollard six minutes into the second half, and that was the game’s only goal.
“It was one of those games where you kind of grind it out,” LaGrange coach Andy Fritchley said. “We’re missing so many people, especially on defense. We moved people around, and we held.”
One of the players who had to step into a starting role was goal keeper Hannah Karcher, and with the help of the defensive players in front of her, she secured the shutout.
“Brookstone had quite a few shots,” Fritchley said. “Hannah Karcher, a first-time starter, she did a fine job, as well as the other defenders. They just kind of came together as a unit and shut it down.”
Fritchley said the team played well in the first half, but as the players headed to the locker room at intermission, they were locked in a scoreless game.
“We played a good first half, it was just 0-0,” Fritchley said. “We just talked at halftime. We said, we don’t want to come down here and tie. That’s not what we came down here to do. Six minutes later, we had that cross, and we finished at the net. It was a jump start of what we needed.”
In Monday’s boys’ game, LaGrange was less than a minute away from securing the road win, but a Brookstone player converted a penalty kick to tie it at 2-2, and that’s the way it ended.
Grayson Bartley and Yeison Diaz both scored for LaGrange.
LaGrange’s teams will be on the road against Whitewater on Wednesday, and they’ll return to Region 1-AAAAA competition on Friday against Carver, and those games will be played at Gardner Newman Middle School.
CALLAWAY: The Lady Cavaliers went on the road and got a 4-1 Region 5-AAA win over Cedartown on Monday.
Acia Stephens had a pair of goals for Callaway, and Brianne Vaught and Savannah Thompson each had one goal.
In the boys’ game, it was Cedartown coming away with a 4-1 win.
Trailing 4-0 at the half, Callaway put together a strong second-half effort and got a goal from Grayson Lambert.
Callaway’s teams will host Spencer today, with the girls’ game set to begin at 5:30 p.m., and the boys’ game to follow.
Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports