COVINGTON, Ga. —After a tough road trip that saw the Lady Eagles lose back-to-back games for the first time this season, the Eastside Lady Eagles defeated the Jackson County Lady Panthers 2-1 at Homer Sharp Stadium on March 15.
Eastside took the early lead on a goal by freshman Joanna Funes courtesy of a throw-in from senior Hannah Scharf less than three minutes into the match. Lady Eagle senior goalkeeper Katie Oakley made a crucial save when a long Jackson County shot at an empty Eastside goal hit off the right post and rebounded out to another Lady Panther whose shot was blocked and covered by Oakley to keep the 1-0 lead with 31:58 left in the first half.
Within minutes, Eastside sophomore Sophia Leal controlled a short pass from Funes, dribbled around two Lady Panther defenders and fired a shot past the charging Jackson County keeper to score. Leal’s goal made the score 2-0 with 28:37 remaining in the first half.
In the second half, the Lady Panthers applied more pressure on the Lady Eagles’ defense. One of those saves came with 34:01 left to play in the match that resulted in a Jackson County corner kick. Jackson County's Kristen Wiley sent the corner in and Kennedy Habeeb put it in the back of the Lady Eagles’ net to end the shutout with 33:31 left to play.
The remainder of the match featured a tough, physical battle from both teams. However, the Lady Eagles’ defense persevered and they were able to get back in the win column.
The win thrilled head coach Joel Singleton.
“We played a great game today,” Singleton said. “Katie Oakley came up huge for us in this match. She was the difference maker. Joanna and Sophia both made some great shots early that put the pressure on Jackson County. We stayed together and really kept making them work on the defensive end with several good shot opportunities.”
Eastside improves to 7-3-1 overall and 2-2-0 in 8-AAAAA, currently good enough for fourth in the Region. It was Jackson County's first region loss and left them at 7-5-0 overall and third in Region 8-AAAAA at 2-1-0.
Eastside Eagles
In the second match of the night, the Eastside Eagles triumphed over the Jackson County Panthers 4-2.
Rodney Williams got the party started for Eastside when he converted a penalty kick giving his team a 1-0 advantage. Right before halftime, Caleb Coggins found the back of the net, extending Eastside’s lead 2-0.
Williams scored again 10 minutes into the second half, too, off an assist from Hunter Kersh. That made it 3-0 for Eastside.
Eastside’s shut-out ended when Jackson County scored with 26 minutes remaining in the match. But, the Eagles had a response.
This time, Kersh found Wayne Warren open for a goal which made it 4-1.
Jackson County mustered another goal late in the match, but Eastside never relinquished its early lead.
With the win, Eastside improves to 4-7-0 overall and 2-2-0 in 8-AAAAA.
Head coach Champ Young was pleased with his team's performance.
"It was a great team win,” Young said. “So many players did the little things necessary tonight. Our group has been getting better each week in preparation for this region's schedule. Jackson County was a very solid team that we were able to crack the code against. I'm not sure we would have done that at the beginning of the year but we are solving those puzzles now.”
Cale Coggins contributed to this report
