Cambridge girls knock out No. 2 Northgate in Class AAAAAA first round

The Cambridge girls soccer team pulled off the biggest upset in the first round of the state playoffs when it knocked off second-ranked Northgate 2-1 in a Class AAAAAA game Thursday in Newnan.

Cambridge reached the Class AAAAA quarterfinals in 2016 but came into this first-round matchup as a No. 4 seed after finishing 4-4 in Region 7-AAAAAA (9-6 overall), with region losses to Pope, Alpharetta, Johns Creek and North Atlanta.

Northgate was 14-1-2 during the regular season, losing only to Class AAAAA No. 1 Whitewater and playing to draws against Pike County and Columbus at the end of the regular season. The Vikings went 8-0 in region play, outscoring their opponents 70-1.

Northgate reached the state semifinals last year and won the Class AAAAA championship in 2013.

Cambridge took a 2-0 lead in the first 30 minutes on a long shot by Ellie Chaffin and a penalty kick by Charlotte Teeter. Northgate cut the lead to 2-1 on a goal by Caroline Peters with about 22 minutes to play but could not pull even.

“They play in a very tough region,” Northgate coach Bryan Hicks told Doug Gorman of the Newnan Times-Herald. “It’s a tough draw because you would like to build as the playoffs go, but whenever you to go into a tough first-round game, anything can happen.”

Cambridge’s victory helped Region 7 complete a four-game sweep of Region 5 in the opening round. The other Region 7 winners were Johns Creek (10-0 over South Paulding), Alpharetta (7-0 over Douglas County) and Pope (6-1 over Alexander).

Cambridge will play at Lakeside-Evans on Tuesday in the second round.

Here’s a recap of the first-round action in the three highest classifications, most of which was played on Thursday and Friday:

*Finishing up: All first-round games in the seven classifications were completed by Friday night except for one. The Fayette County-Veterans match, originally scheduled for Thursday, was postponed because of storms in the Houston County area. The game has been rescheduled for Saturday at 8 a.m. Fayette County is the No. 4 seed from Region 3-AAAAA. Veterans was the Region 1 champion and is No. 3 in the Eurosport rankings. The winner will face Region 7 runner-up Rome in the second round.

*Higher seeds: The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds went 50-14 in the lower four classifications on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds fared better in AAAAAAA, AAAAAA and AAAAA, where the higher seeds were 31-16. Road teams won six of 16 games in Class AAAAAAA, six of 16 games in AAAAAA and four of 15 games in AAAAA. In all the classifications, nine No. 4 seeds advanced, and Fayette County could make it 10 on Saturday. Fayette County's Region 3-AAAAA is 3-0 in the first round.

*Region champions: Five more No. 1 seeds were eliminated on Thursday and Friday, joining the four that were knocked out earlier in the week. They included Northgate, Region 1-AAAAAAA champion Camden County (lost 3-1 to North Paulding), 2-AAAAAAA champion East Coweta (3-1 to Etowah), 8-AAAAAA champion Dacula (3-2 to Creekview) and 2-AAAAA champion Wayne County (4-2 to Dutchtown). Champions Northwest Whitfield, Jackson County, South Atlanta and Darlington had previously been eliminated.

*Looking ahead: The second round will feature two matchups of top-10 teams in Class AAAAAAA. Lassiter, ranked No. 4 by Eurosport and the 2016 champion in AAAAAA, will travel to eighth-ranked Grayson, the top seed from Region 8. Grayson won the state title in the highest classification in 2015. Fifth-ranked Walton, the champion from Lassiter's Region 4, will host third-ranked Peachtree Ridge. Walton is seeking its first state title since 1993, and Peachtree Ridge is seeking its first in school history.

*Scoreboard: Here are the scores for the first-round games in Classes AAAAAAA, AAAAAA and AAAAA as well as the second-round matchups for all seven classifications.

Class AAAAAAA

First-round scores

Peachtree Ridge 7, Rockdale County 0

Walton 8, Wheeler 0

Kennesaw Mountain 2, Lowndes 0

Lambert 4, Norcross 0

Mill Creek 4, Archer 1

Etowah 3, East Coweta 1

Marietta 3, Tift County 1

Brookwood 1, West Forsyth 0

Lassiter 7, Newnan 0

Grayson 1, North Gwinnett 0

Milton 1, Parkview 0

North Paulding 3, Camden County 1

Roswell 4, Campbell 1

Collins Hill 10, South Gwinnett 0

South Forsyth 4, Lakeside-DeKalb 0

Hillgrove 9, Colquitt County 0

Second-round games

(R6 #2) Peachtree Ridge at (R4 #1) Walton

(R3 #2) Kennesaw Mountain at (R5 #1) Lambert

(R4 #4) Etowah at (R6 #3) Mill Creek

(R3 #3) Marietta at (R7 #1) Brookwood

(R4 #3) Lassiter at (R8 #1) Grayson

(R3 #4) North Paulding at (R5 #3) Milton

(R4 #2) Roswell at (R6 #1) Collins Hill

(R5 #2) South Forsyth at (R3 #1) Hillgrove

Class AAAAAA

First-round scores

Sequoyah 4, Apalachee 0

Tucker 3, Brunswick 2

Lakeside-Evans 5, Valdosta 0

Cambridge 2, Northgate 1

Allatoona 1, Lanier 0

Richmond Hill 10, Forest Park 0

Greenbrier 2, Houston County 1

Johns Creek 10, South Paulding 0

Glynn Academy 10, Stephenson 0

Creekview 3, Dacula 2

Alpharetta 7, Douglas County 0

Lee County 2, Alcovy 1

Effingham County 10, M.L. King 0

Harrison 7, Habersham Central 0

Pope 6, Alexander 1

Heritage-Conyers 3, Coffee 0

Second-round games

(R6 #2) Sequoyah at (R4 #1) Tucker

(R7 #4) Cambridge at (R3 #2) Lakeside-Evans