Still rolling along, nation’s No. 1 BHS girls blank HVA to capture 4-AAA Tournament title
BEARDEN — Bearden High School’s girls’ soccer team stayed perfect Thursday night, Oct. 13, as the nation’s No. 1-ranked Lady Bulldogs captured the District 4-AAA title by defeating Hardin Valley at Turner-Allender Field.
The 4-0 win improved Bearden’s record to 18-0-0, and was the Lady Dawgs’ 16th shutout. For the season, the reigning state champions have now scored 104 goals and given up a mere two. Since the beginning of last season, Bearden is 41-0-1.
Lady Dawgs head coach Ryan Radcliffe was pleased with his team’s improved play from its 2-1 semifinal win over Farragut Tuesday evening, Oct. 11 (see related story on this page).
“We didn’t play well in that district semifinal,” Radcliffe said. “We played a real ugly game and had to find a way to win. I thought it was a great rebound, focusing on us and our style. We wanted to make sure we were playing our best soccer and I thought we had moments of that tonight. “
“We definitely were out of sorts,” said Jessica Stephens, coach of the Lady Hawks. “We were not organized tonight. We struggled on things that we probably should have been a lot tighter on. We just did not play well.”
The Lady Bulldogs, No. 1 in the nation according to the website unitedsoccercoaches.org, got two goals in each half, and dominated time of possession. Of their 20 shots, 13 were on goal. Hardin Valley had but two shots for the entire match, one on goal.
Bearden took a 1-0 lead with 28:03 left in the first half when freshman Jayla Blue scored. The goal was assisted by her older sister, junior Nyla.
“We’ve been practicing working through the back,” said Jayla Blue. “We broke lines and we usually score on breaking lines. So my sister played me a great ball and I just was able to finish.”
With 10:49 left in the half, Alivia Stott gave the Lady Bulldogs a 2-0 lead on a penalty kick. The infraction occurred against teammate Brinley Murphy.
Murphy, the Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year, put the match long out of reach at the 20:59 mark of the second half when she scored her 31st goal of the season on a header. It was her 100th as a Lady Bulldog.
“Yesterday (against Farragut) we came out a little too cocky I feel like,” Murphy said. “We just put everything out there today.”
“That’s really amazing,” said Murphy — who is committed to play soccer for the University of South Carolina — of her 100th goal. “I never thought that was gonna happen. I always thought as a freshman I might get the record someday but I never knew if it was gonna come true.”
Becca Ross’s goal with 12:37 left completed the scoring.
The win set up a Region 2-AAA home match Tuesday, Oct. 18, against District 3-AAA tourney runner-up Powell. Hardin Valley (11-4-2) will play 3-AAA tourney champ Knoxville West on the road in the regional round.
“That would be amazing (to repeat as state champions),” Murphy said. “That’s our goal. We’re not gonna leave here without doing that.”
