The Bears soccer team’s Cinderella season came to an end in the Final Four last Friday.
The boys fell to Providence Christian of Lilburn 5-0 to end the Bears’ season with a 16-5 record.
Friday’s loss came after the Bears upset two top ranked team to advance to the FInal Four.
The Bears upset Model Blue Devils of Rome in the Elite Eight earlier in the week.
The Bears went to work early in the contest. Shortly after the first whistle, Senior captain Lane Doss played a beautiful assist to junior captain Clark Stovall, who smashed the ball past the Devil’s keeper and scored the first goal for the Bears. The Blue Devils then tightened up their defense and made a defensive stand, until senior striker Jonah Allen was able to blaze his way through the backline and score with help from a well placed through ball from senior midfielder Jose Arzate.
At the halftime whistle, the Bears were up on the Devils 2-0. The Blue Devils were far from finished and came into the second half to show why they were a number one seed. Shortly after the whistle, the Devils found the back of the net for a quick goal, cutting the Bear’s lead in half and gaining momentum.
That momentum was halted when sophomore striker Ashton Bowen broke through the Devil’s defense and charged the keeper. Bowen was able to fire off a shot at the keeper, and then finish a deflection with his nose for a Bear’s goal.
However, the Devils were not giving up without a fight, and mounted a rally halfway through the second half that resulted in a goal making the score 3-2 Bears.
With 20 minutes remaining in the game, the Devil’s moved into a full press offensive formation to try and tie the game. The Bears had to look to their defense to lean on. All eyes were on the Bear’s defense (senior captain -Walker Brown, sophomore- Ceb Carter, senior-Seth Stipe, senior captain - Doss, junior captain Stovall).
The Bear’s defense stood tall and weathered the storm, fighting off several offensive drives from the Devils.
Assisting in the defense, junior- Alex Merida, was asked to man mark the leading scorer for the Devil’s. Merida shut him down the entire night, making him a non-factor in the game.
In the net and between the pipes for the Bears, at goalkeeper, sophomore - Caden Edwards played one of his best games all year and recorded 9 saves on the night. At the last whistle, the score was 3-2 Bears over the Devil’s.
With that victory the Bear’s made Pierce County High School history, becoming the first soccer team in the 42 year history of Pierce County to play in the Final- 4 round of the GHSA State Playoffs.
