Soccer season underway

This area is known for its soccer and a number of teams are off to a solid start.

McIntosh’s varsity boys soccer team is 2-0 overall and 2-0 in region after wins over Tri-Cities (5-0) and Villa Rica (10-0) this week. The Chiefs, ranked second in Class AAAA, play at Dalton tonight at 5:30 p.m. and will host Tucker at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. The Lady Chiefs, ranked fifth, are also 2-0 beating Tri-Cities 10-0 and Villa Rica 5-0.

Whitewater’s girls, ranked second in Class AAAA, took on Mays on Tuesday and won 10-0. They will host Lovett on Monday at 7 p.m. and will play at Tri-Cities Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Whitewater boys, ranked 10th, also beat Mays 10-0. They will take on Tri-Cities Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Starr’s Mill’s boys, ranked fifth, defeated sixth ranked Habersham Central 1-0 on Tuesday and beat Mays 10-0 on Thursday. They will play at East Coweta on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. following the girls game. The Lady Panthers, ranked third, beat Habersham Central 8-0 and Mays 10-0. Against Habersham, Starr’s Mill’s girls got two goals from Rebecca Bonilla and one goal a piece from Mandy McCalla, Lauren Swany, Katrina Frost, Caroline Woodhead, Stuart Pope and Beth Jacobsen. Against Mays, the Lady Panthers got goals from McCalla (2), Pope, Bonilla, Jacobsen, Caitlyn Daniels, Frost, Swany, Woodhead and Kelli Davis.

Fayette County’s Lady Tigers opened the season with an 11-1 loss at Union Grove and an 8-0 loss to Spalding. The boys wered edged 3-2 by Union Grove but beat Spalding 3-0. Fayette County will host Villa Rica next Friday.

Sandy Creek’s Lady Patriots opened the season with an 11-1 win over Stockbridge and a 2-1 loss to Landmark Christian. The boys also lost to Landmark 2-1. Sandy Creek will play at Douglas County Tuesday and the Lady Patriots will face the Lady Tigers of Fayette County on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

The Our Lady of Mercy varsity girls soccer team opened their season against Mount Pisgah in great fashion winning 9-0. Jessica Adams and Jayla Johnson both had hat tricks (3 goals) and Caitlin Studley, Kaitlin Longino and Margot Farnet each had a goal. The girls then traveled to Whitefield Wednesday night to play the #10 team in Class A. Last year Whitefield beat the girls team quite badly, but this year, the Bobcats jumped up and surprised the ranked Wolfpack, winning 5-3. Johnson had another hat trick and Adams and Longino both got a goal a piece. This was a huge win for this team and will carry great momentum into their match on Monday at St. Francis.
 
The varsity boys team at Mercy opened with a 5-1 win over Mt. Pisgah on Monday night with Erik Nelson scoring the first goal of the season and then an impressive four straight goals by Kevin Shilling. Goal Keeper Eric Johnston had several saves and a great night as well. The Bobcats then traveled to Whitefield and struggled to get everything going, falling to the Wolfpack, 2-1. They will host Pope at noon on Saturday.