Deerfield-Windsor girls soccer team advances to second round

ALBANY — Deerfield-Windsor senior Mattie Veilands knew getting off to a quick start would be important, especially if her team wanted to advance in the state soccer tournament.

Veilands’ early goal helped account for one of Deerfield-Windsor’s three first-half goals, then the Lady Knights held on to defeat the Atlanta Girls Academy 5-2 in the first round of the Georgia Independent Schools Association state soccer tournament Thursday afternoon at Darton State College.

“It’s always good to set the tone early,” Veilands said. “Getting off to a good start can influence how we play as a team.”

Just two days after the Lady Knights captured the Region 3 title in a victory over Georgia Christian, the Lady Knights didn’t show any signs of letting up. Veilands quickly put DWS on the board off a corner kick at the 34:25 mark, then following Rachel Bonner’s goal with 20:54 left in the first half, Olivia Bell gave the Lady Knights a commanding 3-0 advantage when she scored off Veilands’ corner kick.

But the Lady Hurricanes sent a dribbler into the back of the net at the 29:44 mark of the second half, then they boomed a long goal with 10:24 left that cut the deficit to 3-2.

“Anytime a team comes back after you’re up by three goals and then the lead is only one, yeah you get a little nervous and you think about making changes,” DWS coach Alastair Joslin said. “A lot of people may have thought that because we were the No. 1 seed and they were a No. 4, they weren’t supposed to play with us. But they pressured us well and capitalized on our errors.”

Parker Morgan netted an unassisted goal to give Deerfield-Windsor some breating room with 6:36 left, then Bonner helped assist Lexi Ruth Sells’ goal at the 4:08 mark.

Joslin played without five starters and was pleased with how his younger players reacted late.

“Some of these have never played with each other before,” he said. “But they did a good job of pulling it out.”

Deerfield-Windsor (12-1) advances to the second round where it will play host to the First Presbyterian Christian-Monsignor Donovan winner in the second round on Tuesday. A victory would send the Lady Knights into the state semifinals on May 6 at the Blanchard Woods Soccer Complex in Evans.