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PREP SOCCER: Eastside girls coach Joel Singleton grateful for reaching 90 wins
Lady Eagles crack the Class AAAA state rankings for first time this season
Eastside girls soccer
The Eastside girls soccer team has cracked to Class AAAA rankings at No. 9 this week. -photo by Mike Harrison

COVINGTON, Ga. — There’s still a lot of season left, but it’s already been a banner year for Eastside girls soccer head coach Joel Singleton.

Singleton recently notched his 90th career coaching victory at Eastside when the Lady Eagles shut out Henry County 10-0 on March 21. 

Ever humble, coach Singleton said of this milestone: "(I have) been blessed to have been able to do it as long as I have and to have (had) a lot of good players. Without some of the lean years we'd be there already, but it definitely makes me appreciate the good years.”

Singleton has led four of his teams to the state playoffs. This year’s squad will be his fifth. Two of his teams have reached the Sweet 16 (2012 and 2018) which is the farthest the Lady Eagles have traveled into the postseason in program history. 

This year, the Lady Eagles (9-3-1, 4-1 4-AAAA) have lost only to Class AAAA No. 5 North Oconee (1-0), Class AAAA No. 7 Woodward Academy (3-0) and Class AAAAAA No. 4 Heritage (4-1). They played to a draw against Class AAA No. 2 Dawson County (1-1).

And it appears others are starting to take notice of Eastside’s success. 

As of Monday’s eurosportscoreboard.com state rankings, Eastside cracked the Class AAAA top 10 for the first time this season, checking in at No. 9 and matching the 2009 team for the highest state ranking in program history. The 2009 Lady Eagles were coached by Libba Wilcox. Singleton took over the reins in 2010.

Led by sophomore goalkeeper Anna Shelton, Eastside has allowed only 15 goals in 13 games including seven clean sheets. The seven top scorers thus far are all underclassmen. 

Sophomore Aralyn Everett has netted 23 goals, freshman Katie Oakley has scored 13 and junior co-captain Elizabeth Ozburn has eight goals. Freshman Hannah Scharf has six, freshman Bailey Love has five while freshman Lizzie Teasley and junior Mya Cummings each have scored has four. Thirteen different players have scored a total of 71 goals for the Lady Eagles. 

Eastside currently sits in third place in region 4-AAAA with region matches against winless North Clayton and Druid Hills (9-3, 4-0) and non-region games against Morgan County and Winder-Barrow remaining. 

All four matches are scheduled to be played between April 9 and April 18, with the pivotal Druid Hills match taking place on April 16 at Sharp Stadium.