Sheffield slips past Chattanooga Christian in OT, 3-2

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Soccer tile

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- The shot pierced through the night air and penetrated the net.

Ibrahima Dia's free kick found the back of the goal, and he was immediately mobbed by his Sheffield teammates. Their Chattanooga Christian opponents slumped to the ground with a stunned silence that was as piercing as Dia's shot mere moments earlier.

Dia's goal in the 103rd minute gave the Knights a 3-2 overtime win over the Chargers in the quarterfinals of the Class A/AA state tournament at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex. It was the only goal of the five scored by the two teams that in some way couldn't have been considered "fluky."

Dia's story in its own is amazing. He lost his sister to a car accident as she drove to Jackson to watch Sheffield play in the Region 8 championship match against Madison Academic Magnet. Two days later, he showed up at the team's state sectional match against Lexington.

Goalkeeper Abdoulaye Thiam, who had 17 saves against the Chargers, had his house burn down last week as well.

Those things had nothing to do with their team's start, though. CCS (13-6-1) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first three minutes on goals by Drew Bolano -- the first assisted by J. Michael Phebus, the second by Will Patton.

"I think we were still on the bus," Sheffield coach Jonathan Cole said. "Mentally, we were still on the bus. We finally got that one goal on them, and that changed the tempo of the match."

That goal came from Saidou Thiam in the fourth minute, only adding to the crazy start to the match. Both teams settled in at that point, with Sheffield tying the match on a shot by Ibrahima Sow with about eight minutes to play in the half.

The teams went back and forth, with the Chargers having the better of the possession the rest of the way. They pelted the Knights with shots from all angles, totaling 21 attempts.

"I thought we played really well," CCS coach David Stanton said. "We had 40 minutes of good soccer, but that's a very quick team."

The Chargers battled injuries to key players throughout the season, including losing Paul Fortmiller on Tuesday. The junior defender reinjured his knee in the closing moments of the match.

They lose eight seniors.

"It was a teeter-totter season, but we finished on a high note," Stanton said. "We were able to piece together a really tough lineup and became tough on the field.

"We strung together some great moments."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.

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