South Point girls soccer falls to Eastern Alamance in NCHSAA 3A state championship game
South Point High’s first trip to the North Carolina girls soccer state championship game didn’t go the way the Red Raiders had hoped.
South Point came into the NCHSAA 3A final on a 19-game winning streak. The Red Raiders had outscored opponents 168-13.
But on Saturday in Greensboro, the Red Raiders ran into the No. 11 ranked team in America, and Eastern Alamance was simply too much.
Eastern Alamance won 4-0, after returning to the final for the second straight year. The Eagles played faster and created much better scoring opportunities. South Point had a few, but the attempts often weren’t solid enough to register.
And this game, because of that, was really decided in the first half.
“It’s one where you never know how far you can go, what the teams look like,” South Point coach Christopher Baity said. “(Eastern Alamance) has an absolutely amazing team and in the western final, getting past West Henderson was absolutely insane. That was a nice 3-2 win there. So we’ve been fighting hard all year and it shows and I’m proud of the young ladies for the hard work they put in. Unfortunately we just weren’t able to finish it today.”
In the 2022 state championship, Eastern Alamance lost to another Charlotte-area team, falling 2-0 to Lake Norman Charter, and the Eagles played with a special determination in this year’s final at UNC-Greensboro.
South Point — which lost to Lake Norman Charter in the 2022 3A Western Regional final and in the ‘21 2A regional final — was in the state finals for the first time.
The championship experience levels were hard to miss.
The Red Raiders had a few chances to take an early lead, but often found themselves surviving some near misses from Eastern Alamance, which seemed faster at most positions.
And those near-misses ended with 26:53 to play in the first half after a South Point player mishandled a header. Eastern Alamance sophomore Abby Brinker ended up with a fast break because of it, and Brinker slapped the ball past South Point goalie Peyton Decker for a 1-0 lead.
Decker scored again, with just under nine minutes left, after a pretty setup from teammate Ryan Gibbs. Finally, with 17 seconds left, Eagles senior forward Molly Widderich, who scored two goals Saturday, got behind the defense and put through a decisive third goal in the first half.
Eastern Alamance finishes 20-0-1 with a 20-game winning streak. The Eagles outscored opponents 137-8 this season.
South Point, which had only three seniors on the roster, ends its season at 22-1-3. This was the school’s second straight season with at least 20 wins, and its 11th straight season with a winning record.
“It’s been absolutely amazing,” South Point coach Baity said. “The past three years, these young ladies have been breaking records at the school. The hard work they’ve been putting in since January has been absolutely incredible. It’s a great group of young ladies and I can’t wait to see them get back up here again.”
Shots on goal
South Point — 7
Eastern Alamance — 11
PHOTOS: South Point vs. Western Alamance
This story was originally published June 3, 2023 at 12:55 PM.
