Crossroads girls soccer reaches first state final
May 17—HENDERSON — From the start of the season, one of the team goals for Crossroads Christian girls soccer was to win the state championship. After Tuesday's 9-0 win over Ridgecroft School in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 1A semifinals, that's clearly still on the table for the top-seeded Colts, who are so young and talented it's hard not to envision this level of success becoming the norm for the next few seasons.
Win or lose Saturday in the state final against No. 2 The Oakwood School (13-4), underclassmen-laden Crossroads has taken a major step this postseason in establishing itself as the next perennial power in 1A independent girls soccer.
"I know [winning a state title] has been the goal for all of us since the beginning of the season and we just, as a young team, we really have just wanted to get here to this point," said Colts freshman forward Leanna Wimsatt. "So I think as the years go on and we become more experienced and more like a team... Throughout the season, we've really bonded, so I think that's helped us and I think it'll be good for us as a young team to go to the championship this early especially as more seasons come."
As for the task at hand, Crossroads (14-1) reached the championship by securing its third-consecutive shutout Tuesday behind junior goalkeeper Haley Edwards, who needed to make only four saves with teammates Lilly Bailess, Anderson Boyd, Sophia Chapman, and Alex Simmons controlling the midfield.
Wimsatt scored three times for the Colts and Elyssa Phillips and Boyd each found the net twice as the home side, up 2-0 at halftime, turned the game into a rout. Abby Taylor added a goal, as did Lela Champion, who converted a long-range shot to clinch a mercy-rule victory in the final minute. Wimsatt, Phillips and Allison Owens each tallied two assists.
"Those guys kept a lot of balls alive and then they just hustled," Crossroads head coach Tony Bennett said of his midfielders. "They outplayed, and they controlled the middle of the field, which allowed us to keep our forwards down and not have to come back and get involved in that [midfield] play and be ready for the ball when it got sent down to them, to be ready to do something with the ball. I think those guys played a pivotal part in us winning this game."
Fourth-seeded Ridgecroft (9-5), making the 90-mile trek west from Ahoskie, played well early on, hitting a post and venturing into the Colts' penalty area again before the hosts sprang a counter for the game's first goal. Boyd led the attack, dishing forward on the right side of the field for Wimsatt, who crossed the ball in front of goal, where Taylor calmly tapped the ball in to complete a surgical sequence.
Later, Boyd outpaced the last Ridgecroft defender after gaining possession near the center circle, dribbling all the way into the Rams' box to slot home the second goal about 5 minutes from halftime.
"We weren't playing our best in the first half," Bennett said, "but then the second half, we kind of persevered."
Crossroads dominated the second, but didn't fully put the score out of reach until the final 15 minutes.
Champion, an eighth grader, sealed the win and no one was more excited in the postgame huddle than Bennett, the first-year varsity head coach who led the Colts' middle school team the last four seasons.
Two of Crossroads' three overarching goals for the season have already been met. The first was securing a regular season conference title and the second was winning the league tournament.
With an eye on the program's longterm potential, Bennett's short-term expectations haven't changed from the start of the spring. The Colts' goal is to win the first soccer state title in school history 2 p.m. Saturday at N.C. Wesleyan University against the Greenville school that knocked them out of last year's postseason.
"I just think that's one of many things to come," said Bennett.
