USJ, Madison soccer both fall 3-0 at state
High school girls’ soccer season ended for Madison County last week, but not before two teams made it to their respective state tournaments in the TSSAA.
Madison’s girls fell to Merrol Hyde in the Class A quarterfinals, 3-0, on Wednesday.
A day later, University School of Jackson’s girls, fell in the Division II-A semifinals to Evangelical Christian School, 3-0.
For the Lady Mustangs, it was the 10th time in the school’s 21-year history for the girls’ soccer team to make it to the state championship site. But the program still hasn’t won a game in the tournament.
According to some rankings, three of the top four teams in the state – Madison, Hyde and Westview – were on their side of the bracket. Those rankings aren’t anything official.
“This is why we’ve made the non-district schedule as difficult as we could,” said Madison head coach Jeremy Young before the team went to state. “So we could prepare them with different teams that would try different tactics and strategies to try to get a win over them.”
Goalkeeper Olivia Bynum had 10 saves in the loss.
For the Lady Bruins, the loss ends a run of two state championships for the program.
Head coach Paul Conway posted in Twitter after the loss that the outgoing senior class finishes their high school career with 69 wins in 83 games in addition to the two state championships, a runner-up finish their freshman season and this year’s run to the state semifinals.
“I was just looking at some pictures we have of this senior class when they were just starting out in club ball and they weren’t tall at all, came up to my hip,” Conway said. “And you look and see how hard they’ve worked for years to get better and better, and you see how that hard work has paid off with everything they’ve accomplished for USJ and in club ball.
“It’s been an honor to coach these ladies and have a small role in their development as soccer players.”
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
