A Calhoun midfielder and a Dalton defender, in the rain, rises to clear the ball in the teams’ recent match in Calhoun. Calhoun freshman Creighton Morton is nearby to help on the play.
Calhoun sophomore Yocelin Reyes heads up the field against Dalton while teammate Kylie Holmes tries to get in front of her to take a pass. The Lady Jackets hosted Cartersville Friday night in an important 7-5A contest at the high school.
A Calhoun midfielder and a Dalton defender, in the rain, rises to clear the ball in the teams’ recent match in Calhoun. Calhoun freshman Creighton Morton is nearby to help on the play.
Tim Godbee
A Calhoun midfielder and a Dalton defender, in the rain, rises to clear the ball in the teams’ recent match in Calhoun. Calhoun freshman Creighton Morton is nearby to help on the play.
Tim Godbee
Calhoun fresman Daniela Sanchez dribbles the ball up the field in the rain against Dalton.
Tim Godbee
Calhoun sophomore Yocelin Reyes heads up the field against Dalton while teammate Kylie Holmes tries to get in front of her to take a pass. The Lady Jackets hosted Cartersville Friday night in an important 7-5A contest at the high school.
With the highest-scoring team in Region 7-5A, the Calhoun High School girls soccer team are looking for another 5A playoff berth.
The Lady Jackets, despite nearly half of their starters being freshmen, have seemingly progressed just the way head coach Taylor Sumrall had hoped with the team getting better and better and growing a little more every time they play.
They entered Friday night’s crucial Region 7-5A home game with Cartersville with a 5-3 record overall and they were 1-1 in the league. A win would lift them past the Purple Hurricanes in the standings because Cartersville came to town 1-0 in the Region. (Details of that Calhoun-Cartersville girls game was not available at press time).
The Dalton girls held down first place with a 2-0 mark going into this weekend and one of those victories was a hardfought 2-0 triumph over Calhoun, which is the Jackets’ only loss in league play. Beside the Yellow Jackets, Dalton is the only other team in the Region that has an overall winning record this year.
While they have been shutout in all three of their losses, they have been downright potent in their five wins, scoring 33 goals in those games.
And it has not come from just one or two people, as the whole team has been making shots and putting the ball in the back of the net in their victories.
The Yellow Jackets got into the Region win column with a 3-1 triumph over Hiram. The team led 3-nil before the Hornets got their goal.
Freshman midfielder Jenna Brannon, senior midfielder Sofia Campa, and freshman forward Kaylie Holmes accounted for the team’s three goals.
Their most impressive win of the season may have been the game before that when they silenced 6A Rome, 4-0, in Rome.
Brannon also scored in that game but the Lady Jackets showed just how many different scorers they do have with freshman forward Mia Stokes, senior defender Mattie Gunter, and freshman forward Allie Chase producing their other points.
After Calhoun and Dalton, no one else in the 7-5A is above .500 although Cartersville was close. Meanwhile, the other three teams were all off to slow starts.
The Cartersville girls team was 3-4-1 entering Friday’s game against Calhoun, but most importantly were 1-0 in the league with a win over Hiram. That meant that Calhoun needed a win in their match to right behind Dalton.
But after that, Cass, Woodland, and Hiram have combined for three wins.
Cass was 2-8 after its first 10 games while Woodland was 1-4-1 after its first six and Hiram’s girls dropped their first eight games and their first two in the Region, meaning one more loss and it will be five teams fighting it out for the four available playoff spots because Hiram will be eliminated.
In soccer, the six Region teams only play each other one time so three straight losses out of the gate can pretty doom any postseason hopes.
Woodland and Cass play their first 7-5A matches this week as they both play all of their league games as the season winds down.
Calhoun meanwhile, will play its 7-5A games the next two Fridays to wrap up the part of their schedule that determines their postseason status. The Lady Jackets will be home Friday, March 17 to take on Woodland and then close out the Region the following Friday, March 24 at Cass.
And the Calhoun girls’ ability to score seems to be the thing that right now puts them right at or near the top of the 7-5A class because while they have 11 more goals than the nearest team Dalton, which had 22 this year heading into Thursday’s game against Woodland.
Meanwhile no one else in the 7-5A has more than Cass’s 15 with Woodland having scored 13 times and Hiram having 11 goals.
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