By MICHAEL BOYLAN
Sports Editor

It was hard to place the state of mind of the Starr's Mill Lady Panther soccer team as they headed into the regional championship on Friday night. The Lady Panthers had lost to McIntosh in the Golden Isles Shootout and then returned to regular season play to lose to Brookwood, 2-1.

They obviously still had confidence, because they blasted Sandy Creek 16-1 in the first round of the regional playoffs, but Woodward Academy would give Starr's Mill a different game entirely. The question remained before kickoff , how would Starr's Mill respond? Would they be able to repeat as region champs?

The game was very physical, both teams played body to body and would not give their opponent any leeway. Starr's Mill used their speed to get past Woodward,but Woodward would whack the ball to safety. The lady Panthers began to control the ball and the tempo more, stopping any semblance of a Woodward attack.

Janet Burke scored the first goal for Starr's Mill, dribbling past the defender and the keeper before slamming it in. Roughly ten minutes later, Stacee Sproul connected with an Alice Martin pass and knocking it past the arms of the outstretched keeper. “That was a great shot, “ said Coach Jamie Brotemarkle. “She had a difficult angle and it was a pretty goal.” The half ended with Starr's Mill up 2-0, but towards the end of the first half the momentum began to shift.

In the opening minutes of the second half, Woodward took several shots that were amazingly kept out by goalie Rachel Sproul. The Panthers eventually settled down and controlled the pace of the game again. Alice Martin fed Katie Price a beautiful cross in front of the net and Price responded, slamming it in and icing the 3-0 victory for Starr's Mill.

The Lady Panthers will play Columbus High School on Wednesday night at Sandy Creek High School at 6 p.m, as they try to get back to the state finals.

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