Henry's two goals lift Lady Chargers to state tourney

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Hannah Henry doesn't have a favorite NFL team, but she'll be watching the games on television today.

Henry and her Chattanooga Christian girls' soccer teammates earned a lazy day after advancing to the state tournament with a 2-1 win at Grace Academy in a Class A/AA sectional Saturday. The Lady Chargers have played three games -- one with overtime -- in five days, and each was decided by one goal.

"I'm going to sleep, take it easy with no running around," said Henry, who scored both goals Saturday. "And sit on the couch and do nothing -- probably watch football."

Henry and the Lady Chargers (11-6-4) will continue playing this week. They'll know their opening opponent later today.

The Lady Golden Eagles (16-6) have played their last game of the season.

The uniforms of Grace players were arranged on the sideline after the game, ready for a return to storage.

"I thought we were the better team out there tonight," said Grace coach Gretchen Hammel, who wiped mascara from her cheeks after the postgame huddle with her players. "We could have won that game. It didn't go our way tonight, and it's a heartbreaker. We deserved it, but CCS is a strong team."

After more than 35 minutes of strong defense and limited dangerous opportunities for both teams, the outdated scoreboard finally changed when Leah Hoffman booted a corner kick through the box and it met Henry's right foot. The senior buried the shot through the high left corner of the orange twine.

"I didn't know I scored at first because there's a hole in the net," Henry said. "I thought it was in the air so I thought about going to the back post, but it was on the ground and I hit it."

Grace leveled the score when Kayla Bibbs broke away from the defense and buried a shot in the left corner of the net on the ground with 13 minutes to go.

The portable bleachers along the Grace sideline erupted with cheers, but not for long.

Henry scored again less than a minute later.

"It was on the ground and nobody was there," she said, "so I went for it."

Only the net stopped the ball.

"They gave us a great battle," CCS coach Cal Sneller said. "They played with a lot of energy and we played with, oh, about, near nothing.

"I said, 'This weekend, you'd better get as much rest as you can.'"

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.

Upcoming Events