MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Leah Hoffman accepted the large wooden trophy on behalf of the Chattanooga Christian girls' soccer team.
It was not the trophy she wanted. The Lady Chargers collected the Class A/AA state-runner-up trophy Saturday after falling 4-1 to Greeneville at the Richard Siegel complex.
"It was hard getting that trophy because we wanted to win, but someone had to lose and unfortunately that was us," Hoffman said. "Back in the summer I never would have seen us here in the state championship game. We grew together as a team and in our relationships together."
The Lady Chargers participated in the state tournament for the 15th time in school history. Only once, in 1997, did the large trophy head down Charger Lane off South Broad Street.
CCS (17-6-3) advanced to the championship game by defeating Christ Presbyterian Academy on penalty kicks Thursday night and 1-0 over Christian Academy of Knoxville in overtime Friday.
"We played a lot of minutes," CCS coach Cal Sneller said. "I don't think any of them are going to be awake on the way home."
Avenging one of their season losses, the Green Devils (25-2) owned possession of the ball for most of the game and executed on their set plays to score three of their goals. Greeneville outshot CCS 13-7 and had 10 corner kicks compared to none for the Lady Chargers.
Greeneville junior Jessica Sallah scored the first two goals on assists from Katelynn Hadjopoules, who booted the initial corner kicks. Sallah finished them with headers both times.
"We weren't prepared for hand-to-hand marking," CCS senior Annie Reynolds said. "They really got around us."
Olivia Hoffman, the freshman sister of the senior captain for CCS, cut Greeneville's lead in half about seven minutes before halftime. The younger Hoffman accepted a pass from Kyla Duble, who split two defenders to lay the ball on Hoffman's foot. She made one move, then flipped her shot into the lower right corner of the net.
"Olivia is always dangerous," Sneller said. "You could tell at times she was tired, but she tries like a little Energizer bunny."
Sallah continued her assault on the goal after CCS pulled within one. She took a long pass and booted a shot into a low corner about 90 seconds before halftime for her hat trick. She added a fourth goal - a third header - six minutes into the second half on an assist from Elissa McIntosh.
"Defensively we stayed with our 4-4-2 and double-teamed anything dangerous," said Greeneville coach John Eiskamp, who has 40 years in the game. "This is certainly a highlight in my career. When I started coaching high school 15 years ago, I knew that winning state would be the pinnacle."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP