The Allatoona girls soccer team recorded the first playoff victory in the program’s three-year history Thursday, defeating Grady 2-1 at home in the first round of the Class AAA tournament.
Willough Davis’ two first-half goals were just enough to send the Buccaneers into a second-round matchup with Chestatee at home Tuesday. Allatoona, the Region 7-AAA champion, is 18-1 and ranked No. 3 in the Georgia High School Soccer Coaches poll.
“It’s just a great feeling,” Allatoona coach Bill Perry said. “The girls have worked hard. A physical game like tonight, we don’t do so well in that aspect, but I think the girls got a good dose of what’s going to happen in front of them moving forward. All the teams are going to be fast, and they’re going to be physical.”
Davis scored twice in a 10-minute span midway through the first half on breakaways to give the Buccaneers the lead for good. Her first goal, off a long pass from Suzanne Arafa, gave Allatoona a 1-0 lead with 25:24 to play in the half. Davis took another long pass a few minutes later, made a nice move around goalkeeper Marie Godiers and scored from the right side for a 2-0 lead with 15:46 left in the half.
“That was a huge, huge thing,” Perry said of Davis’ performance. “That’s one of our fortes, that if teams are going to stop us they have to watch out for the through-ball and the speed that we have up top. Suzanne did a great job of finding her, and thank goodness for those two working real hard and getting us the game-winners.”
Grady made things interesting in the game’s final few minutes. Perri Bonner took a pass in front of the goal and put it in the right corner of the net to cut the lead to 2-1 with 12:36 remaining. The Grey Knights kept up the pressure the rest of the way, but were unable to score the tying goal.
Grady (9-10 and the No. 4 seed from a Region 5-AAA that includes top-ranked St. Pius and No. 2 Woodward Academy) had the early scoring chances, getting four shots in the game’s first 15 minutes. The best came with 29:14 remaining in the half when Bonner missed just high on a free kick after a hand-ball call. Allatoona goalkeeper Sarah Craig easily handled the other three.
About the Author
