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Forsyth County News—Friday, May 7,2004 That's Racin', 4B □
STATE SOCCER PLAYOFFS
reach Elite status
Central set
for rematch
in Augusta
By Morgan Lee
Sports Writer
The Forsyth Central Lady
Bulldog soccer team booked their
third-straight trip to the Elite Eight
round of the state playoffs with a 4-
1 victory at North Atlanta Tuesday
afternoon.
The victory sets up a showdown
this afternoon at Lakeside, Evans of
Augusta — the same team that
knocked the Lady Dawgs from the
tournament last season — at 4 p.m.
“We’ll have a better chance this
year [against Lakeside],” said
Central head coach Sid Bramblett.
Maybe we won’t have a thunder¬
storm come through. **
The Lady Dawgs (14-2-2) will
be looking to avenge last season’s
5-0 defeat to Lakeside that was
interrupted by a two-hour delay due
to severe weather.
North Atlanta may well have
been the side praying for interven¬
tion from Mother Nature Tuesday
afternoon.
The Lady Dawgs dominated the
second-round playoff match from
start to finish, pounding the Lady
Warrior goal while keeping North
Atlanta bottled in their own defen¬
sive third for much of the contest.
Yet as easy as the Lady Dawgs
made it look, scoring proved diffi¬
cult as Central faced one of the bet¬
ter keepers they have seen all sea¬
son. But once the Lady Dawgs
found the back of the net late in the
first half, the outcome- all but
seemed assured.
“I knew it’d happen before
long,” said Bramblett of his team’s
opening strike. “And once we
[scored], we started clicking. S'
It took more than 35 minutes
and numerous attempts, but Hannah
Woodhead finally ended the Lady
Dawgs’ offensive frustrations
moments before halftime. Open
inside the North Atlanta penalty
area, Woodhead slammed home a
rebound from a comer kick and set
Central on its way with the game’s
first goal.
Two minutes later, Liz Fink
added the Lady Dawgs’ second with
an eight-yard effort after another
Central shot deflected into her path.
Sporting a 2-0 lead at the half,
the Lady Dawgs seemed content to
hold their advantage as midfield
piaymaker Katie Perea dropped
back into defense. But even though
Central continued to push in attack,
North Atlanta began to look more
dangerous on the break and earned
a penalty kick seven minutes into
the restart.
Lady Dawg goalkeeper Jenny
England guessed right on the ensu¬
ing spot kick but couldn’t keep the
low, left-sided shot out of the net,
halving Central’s lead at 2-1 with
33 minutes left.
“They got angry when they gave
up that penalty kick. said
South Forsyth tennis clears
first round of state tourney
By Travis M. Chaffin
Sports Editor
After finishing third in the Region 6-AAAA
tournaments, both the South Forsyth boys and
girls tennis teams earned first-round victories
this week in the Class AAAA state playoffs to
advance one step closer to May 14 and 15’s
semifinals and finals.
Each squad was scheduled for second-round
action on Thursday. Results were unavailable at
deadline.
On Monday, the South girls defeated Dalton
on the road in straight sets, 3-0.
No. 1 singles Kari Fuller, No. 2 Alexis
Webb and No. 3 Allison Dekle each recorded a
win for their team. Once the singles players
4
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Photos/David McGregor
Above, Forsyth Central’s Meredith Tise (8) will look to help her team move into the Final Four today in
Augusta. Below, South Forsyth’s Brooke Carpenter (4) battles for the ball. South travels to Chapel Hill
tomorrow for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
Bramblett, whose team roared back
to life after the North Atlanta goal.
Instead of panicking, the Lady
Dawgs simply moved Perea back
into the midfield — 10 minutes
later Central again had a two-goal
lead and full control of the contest.
With 22 minutes left, North
Atlanta’s defense gave Perea too
much space in front of goal and the
midfielder lashed a 27-yard effort in
to the left side of the net.
The Lady Dawgs didn’t back off
this time, creating several more
chances, including several close
calls from Monica Tobin, who
headed agonizingly high with 16
minutes left.
With eight minutes remaining,
the Lady Dawgs finished off the
Warriors with Katie Snyder’s first
goal of the afternoon.
See FCHS, Page 2B
won, the remaining doubles contests were
stopped. South’s doubles teams No. I
Courtney Milam and Kyndcll Fry, and No. 2
Elizabeth Dennis and Ashley Tcalc — were
each ahead of their opponents when the match
was called.
"They’re playing fantastic,” said South head
coach Jan Nourollahi.
“I’m very hopeful that they’ll make it to the
semis and hopefully to the finals. 11
The Lady War Eagles were scheduled to
face Druid Hills at the DcKalb Tennis Center
on Thursday (results were not available at
deadline).
If the Lady Eagles move past Druid Hills,
See CLEARS, Page 5B
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Photo/David McGregor
North Forsyth's Justin Hamilton made
his 100th career hit Wednesday night.
Lady War
Eagles
knock off
By Kurt Main
For the Forsyth County News
In the dictionary, tackling is
defined as “a physical challenge
against an opposing player who has
the ball, puck, or other object of pos¬
session in football, hockey, soccer
and some other games.”
There was certainly plenty of
“tackling” going on Tuesday night,
as the South Forsyth Lady War
Eagles defeated the Heritage Patriots
3-0 to advance to the next round of
the Class AAAA state tournament.
With the win. South will travel to
Chapel Hill High School, tomorrow,
for a 1 p.m. kickoff in the Elite Eight
round.
Tuesday night’s game was again
dominated by Marlyce Stein, who
led the South attack with three goals.
But the Lady Eagles’ defense proved
just as key in the physical battle.
In the first half, Stein got the
Lady Eagles started with her first
strike for the only goal of the stanza.
In an opening half when the referees
seemed content to let the players
play and keep their yellow cards in
their pockets, constant battles for the
ball led to several bodies hitting the
turf.
South’s defense stood out with
their backs against their goal, allow¬
ing no deflections and no loose balls
as Heritage pressed forward, looking
for a mistake.
Goalie Lauren Thomas also made
several great plays. The South keep¬
er’s biggest save came in the first
half: Heritage steamed forward in a
three-on-one break, but Thomas
rushed from her line, cut down the
angle, and made a great save, allow¬
ing South to hold on to its 1-0 first
half lead.
The second half started off the
way the first ended, with both teams
battling and bruising. But at the
39:38 mark, Stein took a great lead
pass from the left side and drove it
past the Heritage keeper and into the
right-hand comer of the net for a 2-0
advantage.
The way the Lady War Eagles
were playing defense, that was all
that was necessary to put the game
out of reach. The physical play of
both teams continued and became
more evident as time wound down in
the contest.
Heritage tried desperately to get
back in the game, but South was able
to counter the Lady Patriots with
superior speed and power.
Stein finally put the contest out
of reach with her third and final goal
of the game.
Latching on to a deflection that
Heritage could not clear, Stein lofted
the ball over the keeper's head from
just inside the penalty box.
See KNOCK, Page 2B
Local teams
finish region
play on road
By TVavIs M. Chaffin
Sports Editor
The Region 6-AAAA baseball schedule
is now behind us and, for two Forsyth teams,
the state playoffs are only a week away.
On Wednesday, all three of the county’s
varsity squads hit the road for their region
finales, as North Forsyth defeated North
Springs 16-3, South Forsyth topped
Dunwoody 16-12, and Forsyth Central fell
to Tucker 7-5 in extra innings.
See Page SB for game stories