The Covenant Christian boys’ squad made the city championship and the girls bowed out in the second round last week. Both are now preparing for their upcoming sectional games this week.
Boys
The Covenant Christian boys’ soccer team appeared in its second overtime game in the city tournament last Wednesday but was unable to defeat No. 1-seeded Cathedral in the championship, 2-1.
The Warriors led 1-0 after sophomore Jeremiah Rader outran two defenders and fed the ball across to freshman Keaton Joseph for the score. Cathedral answered in the second half, just getting the ball by Covenant’s goalie.
“The second half [Cathedral] came out a bit more intense,” Covenant Christian coach Michael Johnson said. “They were very urgent in trying to get something done and the ball bounced their way and they got a goal.”
Covenant missed a close shot late in the second half to wrap up the game. In overtime, Johnson saw a debatable foul on one of his defenders, Christian Engum, which opened up space for Cathedral to score the game-winning goal.
“They beat us in the year 7-0 at our place, and I don’t know where their thoughts were, but they were probably thinking it was going to be a similar game, and we just came out and really fought back this time,” Johnson said.
In their first match of the city tournament, the boys outlasted George Washington 5-3 in overtime. The Warriors scored two quick goals in the first couple of minutes of overtime to pull away.
They then defeated Bishop Chatard 2-1 and advanced to the championship game.
“It was great to see our guys come together and overcome and not drop their heads,” Johnson said. “We’ve finally come together and even though we lost the game, hopefully we’re starting to peak right now at the right time.”
Girls
The Covenant girls’ soccer team fell in the second round of the city tournament to Heritage Christian.
With a 0-0 tie, the teams faced off in a shootout to determine who would advance. Mallory Huff, Katie Wilson, and Taylor Hylton all connected on their kicks, but the Warriors lost 4-3.
Covenant had a great chance to win the game with five minutes remaining in regulation with the ball in Kaitlyn Brickey’s possession. She lined up her shot, but it just missed, hitting the post.
“I thought we had it won, then the ball hit the post and came out the goal instead of hitting the post and going in,” Covenant Christian coach Theron Smith said.
The teams had met two weeks earlier. Heritage Christian came up on top then, 2-0.
Smith knew what mistakes the team had made in that game and corrected them this time around. They were more aggressive and kept pressure on the ball.
“I knew that they would have a hard time scoring on us if we changed some of those mistakes we made the first time,” he said.
Brickey was strong throughout the team’s entire run in the tournament. She had two goals and two assists in the team’s first-round 6-0 win over Howe Academy.
Wilson contributed a goal and two assists against Howe. Janel Atwell and Annabelle Schafer also scored as the Warriors had a 5-0 lead at halftime.
“Just a very strong offensive display by Kaitlyn Brickey ... We were just a stronger team, and we finished the ball really well,” Smith said.
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