Columbus girls soccer advances to state quarterfinals

The Columbus High Lady Blue Devils soccer team advanced to the Georgia High School Association Class 5A quarterfinals on Wednesday night, defeating Alexander 3-1 in a second-round matchup at Kinnett Stadium.

The Lady Blue Devils set the momentum early, with much of the first half played on the Lady Cougars’ side of the field. Caroline Spurlin and Melanie Robinson both had solid shots on net in the first minute of the game, with Lady Cougars goalkeeper Jordan Maxwell turning both of them aside.

“At this point in the season, our non-region schedule has made us tougher as a team,” Columbus coach Rusty Oliver said. “I challenge anyone in this state to put their non-region schedule up against ours. It’s made us physically and mentally tough. We know that the second half is our half, and they all play with grit and determination.

“They wanted this game tonight. They weren’t ready for this season to be over with.”

On the Columbus side of the ball, goaltender Samantha Munyon got in the game with a save on an Alyssa Lane shot in the game’s ninth minute. But on the ensuing Columbus rush the other way, the Lady Blue Devils earned the first corner of the game on a Kimberly May drive that Maxwell punched behind the goal line out of play.

The Lady Cougars attempted to be the aggressor on the rush several times during the game but were called offsides on multiple occasions, trying to spring their faster players like attacker Tatiana Hawkins-Dabney.

“We watched video of (Alexander) and we knew they were going to pack it in and try to counter,” Oliver said. “I told them to be patient, and the goals would come. I knew we were the better team tonight front to back skill-wise, but it’s hard to score against a team that plays that kind of game, and it’s easy to get frustrated.”

Columbus struck first by way of penalty kick. Gigi Schorr made good on the kick to put the Lady Blue Devils up 1-0 in the game’s 32nd minute.

The Lady Blue Devils padded their lead early in the second half. May took a pinpoint lead pass from Savannah Bridges and looped the ball over a charging Maxwell as the Alexander keeper came out to meet her at the top of the box. The ball rolled into the wide open net, giving Columbus a 2-0 lead just six minutes into the second half.

Abby Marmito extended the Columbus lead to 3-0 in the game’s 61st minute on the second penalty kick of the night as May was tripped up in the box. Marmito beat Maxwell on a hard grounder in the left corner of the net.

The Bridges-to-May connection almost made good on another attempt later in the half for Columbus, with May taking a Bridges centering pass and heading it just over the crossbar.

“Kimberly’s an amazing player. She creates things and she’s unselfish,” Oliver said.

Hawkins-Dabney finally spoiled Munyon’s clean sheet with less than five minutes remaining in the contest with an unassisted goal, taking the ball of the foot of a Lady Blue Devil and surprising Munyon with a drive over her head for the final 3-1 margin.

Munyon had five saves in the game but spoiled many more Alexander scoring attempts with her aggressive goaltending, often coming out to the top of the box to stymie Lady Cougar scoring opportunities.

“It’s tough for her sometimes because she has such a solid defense in front of her,” Oliver said of his goalkeeper. “That last goal, we had a mental breakdown. We left her out to dry. She deserved a clean sheet tonight. I don’t put that goal on her at all. I told our kids we can’t play 75 minutes, we gotta play 80 minutes. Sam played lights out tonight.”

The Lady Blue Devils now set their sights to Richmond Hill, which defeated Dunwoody on Wednesday night in a second round matchup to advance to the quarterfinals. Columbus will host the game on Saturday with a start time to be determined at Kinnett Stadium.

“I’m going to let them enjoy this, but we set our goal at the beginning of the season to win a state championship looking at who we had returning,” Oliver said. “We have two wins against two defensive, hardscrabble teams. (Thursday), we’ll look at the mistakes we made tonight. Friday, we’ll just fine tune some things, and Saturday, we’re gonna come out here and win again.”

This story was originally published May 4, 2016 at 10:04 PM with the headline "Columbus girls soccer advances to state quarterfinals."