The Lady Blue Tide soccer team is off to its best start since 2016. On Tuesday, Feb 20, the teams hosted the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets with the girls coming out on top and the boys finishing in a 1-1 tie.
The Lady Tide used a late goal by Myjah Fedon to pull past the Yellow Jackets 2-1 in a defensive slugfest. In the first half, they used a tough defensive effort to take an early lead.
Ciazia Powe, a future University of South Carolina-Beaufort Sand Shark, usually plays in goal. She committed to play goalkeeper at the collegiate level, but in the first half they pulled her into the field and kept Leora Hyde, a three-year starter, in goal.
This worked out in the Tide’s favor and Powe pushed a pass out of the Jacket keeper’s hands to give her team a 1-0 lead.
The Jackets scored late in the first half to tie the game at the break.
The action was back and forth for the rest of the game before the Lady Tide finally found an opening. In the 68th minute, off a flurry of shots, Fedon put a shot past the Jacket keeper and give her team a 2-1 lead.
The Lady Tide have only been 6-0 once in their history. In 2016, the team started off 6-0 and finished as the region runner-up before advancing to the second round of the state playoffs and falling to Greater Atlanta Christian.
The boys looked to shake off some early rust in a big matchup with the Yellow Jackets after a loss to the defending AA state champion Tattnall County the previous Friday.
The game was hotly contested with neither team getting a shot through the keepers in the first half. The Tide outshot the Jackets 7-4 in the first half.
Early in the second half, the Jackets struck first as they slipped a shot past keeper Kam Milliken to get on the board.
Seven minutes later, however, Tide junior Chris Contreras scored on a free kick to tie the game at 1-1.
Milliken was strong in goal the rest of the night, making four big saves, two on free kicks just outside the box.
Because it was a non-region matchup, the game was allowed to end in a tie.
The Tide are now 3-2-1 on the year and both teams will look to add more to their win columns on Tuesday, Feb 27 when they travel to Pearson to take on Atkinson County.