The Bainbridge High School varsity soccer teams closed out their 2014 regular season at Centennial Field Thursday with a couple region contests against Thomas County Central. The Lady Yellow Jackets beat the Lady Cats 5-0 and the Bearcats lost 1-0, finishing the regular season 12-2-1.
Lady Yellow Jacket senior midfielder Kaylee Shaver scored three of her four goals in the first half to lead TCC to the 5-0 victory.
Despite a valiant effort by Bainbridge goalkeeper Tori Sprenkle, TCC came up with two more scores in the second half as senior forward Kaycee Guyton scored in the minute 64 and Shaver again in minute 66.
Bainbridge had several chances late in the contest as sophomore defenders Derrical Williams and Tianna Miller, who had been moved up on the attack, had near misses on the goal.
Coach Donald Ariail said he appreciated the efforts of his senior players in their final game. Those leaving to graduation are midfielders Treesy Hurst, K’Osha Ingram, Jerily Jones and defender Caryn Vandergriff. Senior midfielder Paige Braswell, who signed a track scholarship to West Georgia in February, played four years on varsity and was also a member of the first Bainbridge Middle School team.
The Bearcats’ match was scoreless for the first half. In the middle of the second half, Thomas County scored the lone goal of the match for the 1-0 and a second place in the region standings.
Throughout the contest, Bainbridge attacked the Yellow Jacket end of the field with several shots dipping just over the crossbar and several others being saved by the TCC Goal Keeper. The Yellow Jackets’ lone score of the match came as a Thomas County midfielder stole the ball from a Bainbridge player at midfield and was able to connect with three passes.
A Thomas County forward received the final pass and centered the ball just outside the penalty area. He lofted a shot over senior goalkeeper Dominic Douglas and just under the crossbar from 23 yards out. Despite the loss, Douglas played a tremendous game with eight saves.
The region 1-AAAAA three seed Bearcats will travel to region 3-AAAAA two seed Richmond Hill next Tuesday to play the Wildcats in the opening round of the state playoffs at 6 p.m.