When the dust had cleared after this weekend’s soccer action, Fayette found six of its boys and girls soccer teams in the final eight playing for a state title. Whitewater, McIntosh and Starr’s MIll advanced in the girls division, while McIntosh and Starr’s Mill moved on in the boys round.
To say that Whitewater’s Teegan Van Gunst had a dominant performance in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs would be an understatement.
Van Gunst lead the Lady Wildcats to a 12-2 victory over the Buccaneers of Allatoona High School Friday afternoon in the Georgia High School Association soccer state playoffs. Van Gunst finished the game with five goals despite being taken out of the game with 21 minutes left in the second half.
Cayson Green added two goals and one assist and teammate Abbey Reddig finished the day with two goals for the Wildcats.
“Van Gunst is a game changer; she is faster than a lot of people think and she plays a very disciplined game,” Whitewater head coach Randy Hayes said. “I wouldn’t want to be between the goal post when she is coming at me.”
Hayes knows all too well of Gunst’s power. Once in practice she allegedly kicked a ball 70 feet, hitting the goal post and taking a chunk out of the ball.
Whitewater jumped out to an early 4-0 lead scoring the first four goals in the opening ten minutes of play. The Buccaneers would break up the shutout at the 11:41 mark to cut into the deficit 4-1, but that moral victory would be short-lived after Whitewater punched in another goal just over a minute later to stretch the lead once again 5-1. Green scored in the final minute of the half to put Whitewater ahead 6-1.
“In my eight years as a head coach I’ve never seen a team play together like this team.” Hayes said. “When we play our game we can just about beat anybody.”
Allatoona added another goal in the second half but Gunst took over, scoring four of the next five Whitewater goals to give the Wildcats an 11-2 lead. Reddig ended the game with her second goal of the night at the 19:50 mark in the second half.
Whitewater has high hopes for hoisting a state trophy this year. The Wildcats have beaten all three teams remaining in the tournament including their next opponent: Starr’s Mill High School. The last time these two teams faced off against each other, Whitewater defeated the Panthers 2-1 in overtime on 4-1 penalty kicks.
Whitewater faced Starr’s Mill in semifinal action Tuesday night after The Citizen went to press. The McIntosh girls also played Northgate last night. For updates, visit www.TheCitizen.com.
