MACON -- McIntosh coach Marcia Clark said she had a special feel about this squad since after the first practice of the season. She was right.
Caroline Laux had a hat trick and Taylor Malasek added a goal, leading McIntosh to its 10th state championship with a 4-0 win over Columbus on Saturday in the Class AAAAA girls state soccer championship at Mercer University's Anderson Field.
"I knew that the spirit of these ladies would be difficult to beat in the home stretch," said Clark, who notched her sixth state title as Chiefs coach. "After the first practice, my assistant and I literally cried tears of joy with this team's worth ethic. Does that sound crazy? After the first practice, they left, and we were just like 'wow,' this is how it's supposed to be."
The match was tied 0-0 after an evenly played first half, before McIntosh found its rhythm with a couple set pieces.
Laux opened the scoring with a header off of a Chandler Witucki corner kick to put the Chiefs ahead 1-0 eight minutes into the second half. Minutes later, Witucki again set up a goal off a corner, this time Taylor Malasek capitalized to put McIntosh up 2-0. Laux tacked on a pair of late goal to help seal the win.
“I feel like the set pieces that we had worked on helped put us back in the game and relax and play a little better,” Clark said.
Columbus overcame a four-game losing streak in April to reach the state championship game. The Blue Devils were looking for their first state title, but got very little going against McIntosh defense.
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