There was a lot more at stake than just a win over a crosstown rival Friday night when the GMC Prep girls soccer team took the field against John Milledge Academy.
The Lady Dogs not only evened up their series with JMA thanks to the 2-0 win, but also broke the known record for program wins in a season setting the new mark at nine. The GMC Prep girls carried a 9-4 overall record and 2-2 mark in region play entering Tuesday night’s contest at Athens Academy. The nine wins are leaps and bounds better than the team’s output last season and are believed to be the most since the program’s inception in spring 2008.
“I’m happy, but I'm mostly happy for the girls,” said Lady Dogs head coach Tommy Howell on breaking the record. “Last year they won two games and we had a lot of freshmen and sophomores, so we let them play all the games they could including JV and varsity. At the end of the year they were pretty wore out, but we felt like it would be an advantage for us this year after putting them on the field as much as we could last year.”
That gambit paid off, and after being low on experience last season this year’s GMC Prep girls roster is still believe it or not largely made up of underclassmen. Like many high school programs Coach Howell, assisted by coaches Jeff Ward and Lauren Childers, has to share athletes across many different sports with very few dedicated soccer players. Offensively the Lady Dogs are led by sophomore Whitley Ward who averages more than one goal per contest having put 16 balls into the net so far this season. Freshman Logan Mitchem is second on the team with seven goals scored after having come over at the end of the varsity girls basketball season. On the back end are Lyssa Blair and Brooke Sheffield who are two of the more experienced players for Howell.
“They started for me back there last year and they have just solidified from their years of experience,” the head coach said of Blair and Sheffield. “They also provide a lot of leadership being two of the juniors we have.”
Howell is in his second year at GMC Prep after having come over from Dublin where he was an assistant coach for the soccer team that made a couple of deep runs into the state playoffs. His Lady Dogs are fighting for a spot in those playoffs this season, but have a tough road ahead even with their 9-4 record. GHSA Class A schools are divided up into eight different areas, and GMC Prep is in Area 3 where three of the four playoff spots are all but locked in. The Lady Dogs soccer team has made it to the state playoffs before, but none of this year’s players have any postseason experience.
“We’d love to have double-digit wins and we’d love to make the playoffs,” Howell said on the team’s goals for this season. “We lost a heartbreaker to Lake Oconee Academy 1-0 in the 67th minute of the game. Usually for the playoff spot it comes down to one of us because Athens Academy, Prince Avenue, and Aquinas take up the first three spots so that only leaves a little room for the rest of us to try and find that other one. Right now Lake Oconee, unless they lose, would have the head-to-head against us.”
The Lady Dogs are going to have to wait a little longer to reach double-digit wins after taking one on the chin Tuesday night at Athens Academy 10-0. GMC Prep will return to the Classic City Friday to take the field against Prince Avenue Christian.
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