Riders fall to Rams

ST. MARYS - Given the opportunity to make history on Saturday afternoon, the St. Marys girls soccer team locked horns with the undefeated Madison Rams in the Division II regional championship at Roughrider Field.

Despite nearly flawless weather and a hero's effort throughout regulation play, St. Marys' dream faded in the closing minutes, as they fell to 17-4-1 on the year with a season-ending 3-1 loss to the Rams.

"That was probably the best team we played this season and we were right with them in the first half without a doubt," said Roughriders coach Nick Wilson. "Great teams have a way of figuring things out in the end, and there's definitely a reason they are undefeated. I told them now they have to go and win it all."

The Roughriders went toe-to-toe with the Rams for nearly the first 20 minutes of the contest until Madison freshman Natalee Beck snuck one into the net with a header at the 20:33 mark to put her team up 1-0.

St. Marys got the equalizer just over 10 minutes later when senior Lil Ankerman rifled a shot into the back of the net to knot the score 1-1 with 9:34 left in the first half.

The remainder of the half was a defensive standoff until the 2:30 mark when the Rams struck yet again. Taylor Huff, who committed to play soccer at the University of Tennessee received a pass 30 yards out and swiftly broke toward the goal. St. Marys senior goalie Kiley Tennant rushed to challenge, but Huff snuck it past her to give her team the 2-1 edge. It was Huff's 31st goal of the season and 130th of her career, putting her into the top 10 in the state.

"The late first half goal was a tough one," Wilson said. "There's a reason Taylor Huff is a four-time district Player of the Year and four-time All-American. We probably could have had eight defenders out there and she would have dribbled through them all, she is just that good."

Trailing by a goal, the St. Marys faithful held confident hope as the second half unfolded, but that was soon seemingly deflated at the 26:05 mark when Nevaeh Lewis delivered what would become the final crushing blow from Tennant's left side to increase the Rams' margin to two goals.

"Their goal right before half took some wind out of our sails and their final goal was just unfortunate and certainly made it a bigger challenge to come back after that," said Wilson. "Our mantra has always been to win every ball and play physical and I think we lost a little bit of that in the second half and part of that is their possessions became much better."

Despite the final outcome, Wilson couldn't have been more proud of his seniors - Kiley Tennant, Tabby Knous, Peyton Wilson, Madi Anthony, Emma Birt, Katie Lucas, Lilly Ankerman, and Jennifer Bayham - in the way they led with confidence and composure all year long.

"I started with a lot of them when they were U8 and U10, and then I switched to the high school level and picked them up again. they are a tremendous class," said Wilson. "The leadership we lose from those girls will be difficult to replace. They are eight wonderful young ladies who have poured their heart and soul into this program and I couldn't be more proud."