McIntosh scored three goals in a 14-minute span late in the first half and went on to beat rival Starr’s Mill 4-1 in the Class AAAAA girls soccer championship game Friday at Kennesaw State.
The victory gave McIntosh (19-2) its third title in four years and its ninth overall, and it avenged a 2-0 loss to the Panthers during the regular season.
“It’s awesome,” McIntosh coach Marcia Clark said. “The girls have been on fire the past couple of games and in practices, and this week they have had the magic thing. We told them last night that we don’t know what it is, we don’t know what to call it … it’s an intangible, magic thing, and you ladies have it and you’ve got to put it to them tomorrow, because it’s going to happen.”
The championship matchup was the fourth in five seasons between Fayette County teams in the second-highest classification. Starr’s Mill (19-4), McIntosh and defending state champion Northgate finished in a three-way tie for first place in Region 4-AAAAA, but Starr’s Mill got the No. 1 seed because of a goal-differential tiebreaker. McIntosh, which spent most of the season ranked No. 1 in AAAAA, was the No. 3 seed and had to play all of its postseason games on the road.
Freshman Taylor Malasek gave McIntosh a 1-0 lead when she knocked in a loose ball in traffic in front of the net with 19:10 remaining in the first half. Starr’s Mill answered less than six minutes later when Sarah Yoss took a crossing pass from Leslie Logan after a throw-in and shot it into the left side of the net.
McIntosh reclaimed the lead for good on Martha Trimbach’s goal from just outside the penalty box with 8:12 to play in the half. Amanda Bartholomew made it a 3-1 lead less than three minutes later when she took a long pass, dribbled through traffic to the front of the net and scored from about 15 yards out.
McIntosh kept the pressure off junior goalkeeper Hannah Graham the rest of the way, although she did make a nice save on a shot by Logan midway through the second half. Graham played the entire postseason with a broken foot she suffered in a P.E. class.
“The assumption was that she wasn’t playing,” Clark said. “We called up keepers from JV, and everybody thought, ‘Well, we’ve had a good season.’ But when this girl got clearance from the orthopedists that she could play and that it wouldn’t do any permanent damage – it was just a matter of playing with pain – she said to me, ‘Pain is temporary but victory is forever, and I’m going to play.’ And when she did that, I’m telling you it had a domino effect on the team. I can’t tell you how much credit we owe this young lady.”
Yoss’ goal was the only one allowed by the Chiefs in their five playoff victories.
McIntosh’s Jackie Gray completed the scoring with 2:29 to play in the game with a goal off a pass from Rachel Green.
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