Six days after a thrilling first round win over Bacon County in the state soccer tournament, the Putnam County Lady War Eagles ran into the proverbial buzz saw in Atlanta, losing to the Lovett Lady Lions 10-0.
The Lady War Eagles concluded the season with nine wins against six losses during the 2022 season.
Against the powerhouse private school that won the AA title last year, the Lady War Eagles trailed 8-0 at the break.
But Lovett is good, compiling a record of 18-3 and 9-0 in Region 6-AA, which includes a pretty good Pace Academy team that has also advanced to the Elite 8 and whose only region loss came at the hands of Lovett.
During the season, the Lady Lions scored 140 goals and gave up just 16.
Lovett moves on to play Lamar County in the Elite 8 April 25.
The Putnam County girls entered the state tournament as the No. 2 seed from Region 4-AA with a record of 8-5 overall and 6-1 in region play.
Putnam County won its first state tournament match against Bacon County after two overtime and two rounds of penalty kicks. Lacy Bruce finally put Putnam County over the top with a penalty kick. It might have been keeper Tesa Shelton’s finest moment as she defended the goal against all those nearly free shots.
The Putnam County side had gotten off to rough start, losing four of the first five and gave up 13 while goals scoring only three. But after Feb. 15, Putnam County won six of seven and recorded five shutouts to total seven shutouts for the season.
The defensive back line of Breshyia Farley, Nevaeh Allen, Jenn McDerment and Regina Espin were instrumental in that stingy defensive effort along with keep Tesa Shelton who just recently signed a scholarship to play college soccer at GMC.
Oglethorpe County finished first in Region 4-AA with a sterling record of 11-2-1.
According to Coach Brandi Barling, the girls may have lost those early games against tough opponents, but the adversity helped prepare them for success in region play.
Lily Frisch was the top scorer this year with 23 goals during the season and two in the first round playoff game while Gracie Bird and Ana Barranco both contributed 10 each.
Cambell Crouch scored 7 goals.