The Coahulla Creek girls’ soccer team made history Wednesday in Atlanta, though it wasn’t quite what the Lady Colts had hoped for.
Coahulla Creek lost 2-0 to Pike County in the GHSA Class AA championship match at St. Pius X High School, denying the Lady Colts’ bid to become the first girls’ soccer program from Whitfield County to win a state title. The appearance in a girls’ soccer state final, though, was the first in county history, as well as the first runner-up finish for any girls’ soccer program in the Times Free Press coverage area (Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Gordon, Murray, Walker and Whitfield counties).
Trion will become the second ever to play in a title match when the Lady Bulldogs take on Irwin County in Friday’s Class A Division II final at Upson-Lee High School.
Pike County (20-3), which was the classification’s top overall seed and repeated a year after winning the program’s first state title, turned the tables on second-seeded Coahulla Creek (19-4) by controlling possession throughout Wednesday’s match.
“One of our strengths all season has been to work players off the ball and maintain possession, but this team did so well passing and moving today,” Coahulla Creek coach Shannon Coley said. “Every girl was comfortable with the ball, and we were just a step behind. The girls played really hard, and we matched their intensity and toughness, but we were behind defending their give-and-goes.”