May, defense lead Columbus past Richmond Hill

For the third time in four years, the Columbus girls soccer team is advancing to the state semifinals.

Kimberly May notched a hat trick, scoring two of them early in the first half to give the Lady Blue Devils the advantage over Richmond Hill on Saturday at Kinnett Stadium, and they hung on down the stretch for a 4-2 win.

With the victory, the Lady Blue Devils advance to Tuesday’s Class 5A semifinals round, where they will face the state’s No. 1 team, Starr’s Mill. The location of the game is to be determined by a coin flip, but Columbus coach Rusty Oliver left no doubt his expectations.

“I didn’t care who won that (other) game),” he said. “We’ll have a coin flip for the location and we’ll either go up there and beat them, or we’ll have them come down here and beat them.”

The confidence in the next round stems from what he saw from his team, for the most part, on Saturday. Columbus got goals in the eighth and 19th minutes by May in the first half, another by May in the 48th minute in the second and one by Caroline Tucker in the 53rd to go ahead 4-0.

A late lapse on the defensive end allowed two Richmond Hill goals, but by that time the game was out of reach.

May’s first two goals were indefensible by the Richmond Hill keeper. The first came on a corner kick, where the ball ricocheted off of a Richmond Hill player to her and she sent it to the top left corner of the goal with her right foot, out of reach of the keeper.

Eleven minutes later, she took a feed from Caroline Tucker from about 25 yards out and lofted it just over the keeper’s outstretched fingertips and into the net.

“This was a game we needed to come out and score early,” Oliver said. “We’ve had a bad year this year coming from behind. Our record is not very good when we give up goals.”

“It was great getting the momentum early,” May added. “It boosted our confidence. I’m just proud of my teammates.”

May added a third goal early in the second half to give Columbus firm control, taking a feed from Savannah Bridges and putting it in to go up 3-0. Tucker added the fourth on a perfect cross from Bridges in the 53rd minute. Bridges took it on the left side and kicked toward the front right post of the goal, and Tucker sent it into the net for a 4-0 lead.

Both second-half goals proved to be monumental as Richmond Hill added two late goals to close the gap. That gap could have been even closer if not for a number of great defensive plays by Madeline Goodfellow. Goodfellow utilized great speed to get ahead of a number of Richmond Hill breakaways in both halves, preventing a one-on-one situation between the offense and Columbus keeper Sam Munyon.

“I wish there was some way to quantify how important she is to the team,” Oliver said of Goodfellow. “She, herself, has saved probably as many goals as Sam has. She’s a brick wall back there.”

Columbus will have a one-day turnaround with practice on Monday and then the semifinal game against Starr’s Mill on Tuesday. After the game, Oliver made it clear to his players what his expectations are.

“Plenty of teams have made it to the semifinals,” he said. “You have an opportunity to do more than that.”

The Lady Blue Devils have never won a state championship. They are hoping this year will be their first.

This story was originally published May 7, 2016 at 9:04 PM with the headline "May, defense lead Columbus past Richmond Hill."