GIRLS SOCCER: Lee takes S. Valley tournament with 1 goal

With 18 minutes left to play in a scoreless Southern Valley District tournament championship, Robert E. Lee’s Bree Hersch didn’t slow down when Waynesboro keeper Kate Garber charged out of the box.

The two players collided, both falling to the pitch, while the ball popped out for a waiting Kathleen Thompson who put Lee on top 1-0. The 1-0 score held for the remaining minutes, allowing Lee to claim the Southern Valley District tournament championship.

“Bree took the ball down and kicked it through the keeper,” Thompson said. “It was just a ball in an empty net. I knew I had to finish.”

Hersch injured her knee during the play and was pulled from the game. Garber received a yellow card.

“We knew what it meant because we wanted to get a goal,” Hersch said. “It was important.”

“The fact that [Hersch] didn’t get up had me worried,” said R.E. Lee coach Andrew Green. “She always gets up. She is one of the toughest players I have ever coached.”

The Little Giants and Lee Ladies have now met four times this season. They split the regular season and tied for first place in the district’s final standings forcing a one-game playoff for the regular season championship. Waynesboro defeated Lee 5-1 to claim the crown and the automatic Region III berth, but couldn’t get on the board Thursday.

“I think both teams showed up to play and played very well,” said Waynesboro coach Dani Almarode. “I told the girls that there were a few things we could have done differently, but they left everything on the field.”

The two teams have scored a combined 12 goals in their previous three meetings. Almarode said that she anticipated Thursday’s game would be a close one.

“I knew it would be a close game,” she said. “I knew after Friday’s game Lee was going to want it.”

After being presented the championship trophy while sitting on the bench, Hersch said that her goal would have been impossible without her teammates.

“I feel great, but it wouldn’t have been anything without the rest of the team,” she said.

Thompson, with her face painted in school colors, said that she was nervous going into the game, but her team wanted to come out hot after Friday’s loss.

“We are really excited,” she said. “I think we have a lot of confidence after this win and we are just ready to go.”

Lee had already clinched a No. 2 Region III berth on Tuesday, defeating Fort Defiance in the Southern Valley semifinals. The Lee Ladies will host the winner of the Amherst and Liberty-Bedford Seminole District tournament game on Monday.

Waynesboro and Lee will not meet again unless both teams make the Region III finals.