Chattanooga Christian did not meet its pregame objective of scoring two goals in the first 10 minutes against Grace Academy.
But the Lady Chargers scored five in less than 15 minutes on their way to a 6-0 victory over the Lady Golden Eagles in their Class A/AA sectional soccer game Saturday.
Grace (12-8-1) played its last game of the year and some players shed a few tears. The Lady Chargers (18-3-2) advance to the state tournament and will learn their opponent today.
"These girls don't stop and they don't want to stop, and they never feel content," CCS coach Cal Sneller said. "They kept pushing; they felt that rhythm and kept going. Bang, bang, bang -- it was phenomenal."
Senior Anna Hoffman assisted on the first three goals. Allie Vannoy scored with 26 minutes to go in the first half on a pass that put her in point-blank range.
Natalie Thedford scored when the pass left her one-on-one with Grace keeper Abagail Bosco. Less than 30 seconds after that, Savanna Cingilli squeezed a shot between Bosco and the left goal post.
The Lady Chargers led by three with more than 17 minutes to go in the first half and then added an unassisted goal by Kruesi Brock from inside the 6-yard box and another from short range on a pass from Vannoy to Thedford.
"We've had a lot of success going down the flanks and crossing it, especially on Anna's side," Thedford said. "They would swarm to her side, and then if she could get it to the other side it would be wide open."
The Lady Chargers added a second-half goal on a long free kick by Allie Sullivan.
"We're capable of so much more, and we had a bad day in our last game," Grace coach Gretchen Hammel said. "We just weren't playing smart or doing anything we're capable of doing. It was just a train wreck for me today."