Sports

DWS girls back in Final Four

• Lacey Kincheloe scores three goals, including the game winner, to lead the Deerfield-Windsor’s girls soccer team past Stratford Academy in the GISA Class AAA playoffs, advancing the Lady Knights to the Final Four.

Scott Chancey

ALBANY — Deerfield-Windsor sophomore Lacey Kincheloe had never experienced the Lady Knights’ past postseason heartbreak against Stratford Academy.

And Saturday, she made sure they wouldn’t feel it again this year.

Kincheloe, who transferred last year from St. Mary’s Catholic, scored three goals, including the game winner with less than two minutes left off a Shelby Cosby assist and Deerfield beat Stratford, 4-3, in the GISA Class AAA quarterfinals.

“This is all new to me,” Kincheloe said. “Now I’m excited to get to the Final Four.”

Deerfield reaches the semifinals for the first time since 2006, and will play at Mount de Sales at 7:30 p.m. Thursday against the winner between Westminster and defending state champion First Presbyterian Day.

After beating Stratford during the regular season for the first time ever, 8-1, at homeand then, 3-2, on the road, the Lady Knights completed another kind of hat trick — three victories in a single year against a Stratford team that had won 11 consecutive state titles before losing in last year’s semifinals.

But the Lady Knights made sure there was not a return trip this time — besides back to Macon — for Stratford.

“It will be kind of different,” said Cosby, who had two assists, both to Kincheloe. “It used to be with us and them, ‘See you in the finals.’ This year, it’s good we won’t have to see them again.”

Very few on Deerfield’s soccer team had experienced the past playoff woes against Stratford like Cosby, who was part of the 2004-05 teams that lost against the Lady Eagles in the finals, and the 2006 team that fell in the semifinals.

“To beat them in the playoffs, it’s big because they are like a totally different team in the state tournament,” Cosby said. “We knew they were going to bring everything they had to the field.”

Under first-year coach Tony Voyles, who coached at Ware County last year, the Lady Knights can forget about this past season’s state quarterfinal loss against Mount de Sales. Now, they are two wins from the soccer program’s first state title.

And Cosby says its the team’s best chance yet.

“We have a lot of things going for us,” she said. “We had to dig deep (Saturday), and will have to dig deep from now on. It’s not going to be an easy road.”

And Saturday’s road to victory was far from easy. The Lady Knights fell behind on an unusual goal, and then Stratford tied the match again later on with a corner kick that bent perfectly.

Kincheloe scored her first goal, 35 yards out, from the left corner and giave Deerfield a 1-0 lead in the first half. A shot by Kendall Cowart, however, sailed over goalkeeper Katie Williams’ head and the Lady Eagles tied the score.

When the second half began, the ball was set for a midfield shot by Virginia Hirschey that sailed, took a bounce and went over Williams’ head for a 2-1 advantage. Deerfield’s Ivy Puckett scored off a Kayla Hatcher assist to the score, and then a Cosby assist led to Kincheloe’s second goal and a 3-2 lead.

Stratford, however, played itself right back into the match when Mary Del Holleman’s corner kick from the left side curved nicely into the net to tie it.

But with less than two minutes left, Cosby made a pass that Kincheloe was able to convert into the season’s most important goal so far, working the ball past goalkeeper Morley Conn and scoring.

“Once it got past the defense, I knew I could make this,” Kincheloe said. “I made an easy move around (Conn) and it went in.”

All Voyles was concerned about then was her not overreacting and possibly kicking the ball over the top bar.

“She kept her cool, she had been good with her control all year,” Voyles said. “I knew the goal was good once she got past (Conn). My main thing then was trying to get everyone organized to defend after that.”

And now that Deerfield is advancing instead of Stratford, Voyles is as happy as his players.

“This is a big one,” he said. “I wasn’t part of those tough losses in the past, but this makes our group extremely happy. We’re glad we could get after them.”

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