Undefeated Lexington earns berth in Class 4A girls soccer state title game
The undefeated season continues.
Sophomore Megan Classer scored two goals and Lexington did all of its scoring in the second half in a 4-0 win over James Island on Monday in the Class 4A girls soccer Lower State championship.
The Wildcats, the state’s lone unbeaten team and No. 1 team in 4A, will play J.L. Mann on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Irmo High for the state championship. It’s the Wildcats’ second state championship appearance, and first since 2007.
Lexington (24-0-2) is trying to become the first Midlands team to win a Class 4A girls soccer title since Richland Northeast in 2001.
“At the beginning of the year we knew we were going to be a team to reckon with for a state championship,” Lexington coach Chris Fryland said. “But with such a young group and then losing Maddy Goodman, a senior and all-state player, I just didn’t know. … I am just so proud of them.”
The Wildcats lost Goodman, who was selected to the Class of the Carolinas All-Star match, with a knee injury late in the season against River Bluff. But the team, with its large sophomore class, has picked up the slack.
Lexington starts one senior, and its top three scorers are sophomores, led by Classer. The all-state selection was tied for second in the Midlands in scoring in the regular season with 74 points. She has scored at least one goal in all of the Wildcats’ playoff matches.
“It’s just the best feeling in the world right now,” Classer said. “I love all my teammates and we all deserve it. Playing J.L. Mann is going to be tough, but it is so special and an amazing opportunity. Lexington has done it just a few times, and I am glad to be a part of it.”
Lexington dominated most of the match and outshot James Island 11-1 in the first half, but couldn’t convert. That changed five minutes into the second half as Classer scored the first of her two goals.
Junior Callaway Grady made it 2-0 with a header at the 15-minute mark in the second half and Maggie Schopp added another goal five minutes later. Classer capped the scoring with five minutes left.
“We are a second-half team, so honestly I knew we were going to come back and score and keep scoring,” Classer said. “That’s just the team we are.”
“At halftime, we told them just keeping going at them,” Fryland said. “We looked a little slow in the first half and made a little adjustment in the second half. And that early goal kind of calmed us down.”
Maggie Carpenter got the win in goal for the Wildcats, who recorded their 15th shutout of the season. Lexington has outscored its opponents 27-1 in four playoff matches.
It’s the second straight season Lexington has eliminated James Island from the playoffs. The Wildcats won 4-0 in the second last year. James Island finishes the year at 21-5.
This story was originally published May 9, 2016 at 11:10 PM.