SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. — The Social Circle Lady Redskins and their faithful had a few things to celebrate when the final whistle blew in their Sweet 16 match against Dodge County on Thursday.
The first — A 7-1 win that saw the Lady Redskins play almost perfect. The second — senior Alana Ferguson scored her 100th career goal in the win.
Ferguson entered the second round matchup against the Lady Indians with 97 goals. With a hat trick needed, the senior stepped up to the challenge.
“I knew at the beginning that I had three more goals to go to get to 100,” Ferguson said. “It feels amazing. It is so exciting.”
With just over a minute left in the match and the Lady Redskins ahead by five goals, Ferguson broke away on a long run before depositing the ball into the back of the net. The goal completed her hat trick as she reached No. 100.
After the team met after the match to discuss the group’s performance and celebrate Ferguson’s accomplishments, head coach Heather Richarson shared how special it was to see the long-time Lady Redskin reach the century-mark.
“It was very fun, it’s special,” Richardson said. “She has been working hard for it all season. Potentially three games left is all she had, so I am glad she was able to get to it.”
Despite Ferguson knowing she was a few goals away from the career milestone going into Thursday, the senior helped her teammates put Social Circle ahead early.
13 minutes into the match, Ferguson connected on a pass to sophomore Kayla Whitley, who placed the ball past the keeper for the opening score.
Dodge responded well after the opening goal as the Lady Indians held off Social Circle for another 20 minutes. However, the Lady Redskins found a way to light up the scoreboard in the final seven minutes of the half.
Ferguson delivered another promising pass in. This time, it went to junior Kara Lee Taylor, who gathered the pass and scored from close range.
Four minutes later, Ferguson put the first touches on her hat trick. The senior broke away on a long run before placing the ball across the keeper into the corner for Social Circle’s third goal of the match.
Less than a minute later, Ferguson secured her third assist on a ball to Faith Young, who scored close to make it a 4-0 advantage at intermission.
After what she considered to be a strong week of preparation, Richardson saw all the work come to fruition on the pitch.
“We had a great three days of practice this week,” Richardson said. “We worked a lot on holding the ball, possessing the ball, and shooting the ball well. I think we did that tonight. We put the ball on the ground and played out wide and crossed it in just how we like to do.”
When the second half began, it did not take long for Ferguson and the Lady Redskins to pick up right where they left off.
10-minutes into the half, Ferguson received a quality through-ball before beating the keeper from inside the box.
Ferguson’s second goal of the match was the last action for a bit as both teams traded possession back-and-forth for the majority of the second half.
With three minutes left in the match, a Ferguson free kick was off the mark, but freshman Maggie Berger made the heads up play by placing a header past the Dodge County keeper for the goal.
In the final two minutes, the Lady Indians scored their lone goal of the match on a free kick from senior Glenna Whitley that soared into the top left of the net past Kyla Head in goal.
With the game surely finished at 6-1, Ferguson had her moment in the final minute.
Ferguson’s final goal showcased what helped the team many times on Thursday — speed.
Social Circle’s team speed was across the pitch and was seen from multiple players, and Richardson shared it comes into consideration each match.
“I think I move people around based on who we are playing, because we have speed in the front and in the back,” Richardson said. “You have to have speed offensively and definitely defensively. I try to use it to my advantage anywhere I can put it.”
The win moved the Lady Redskins to a 15-5 overall record in 2025 while it also improved the team’s record at home to 9-3.
Next up for Social Circle is a matchup with the Dade County Lady Wolverines(8-5, 6-1), who defeated Worth County(14-6, 4-2) in the second round.
As someone who has been a part of multiple playoff runs as well as last year’s state runner-up team, Ferguson shared what championship-leve qualities this year’s Lady Redskins have as they look to get back to the mountaintop.
“We have great chemistry with each other,” Ferguson said. “We fight for eachother, we fight with each other and we go through the dirt with each other.”
