Less than two weeks ago the Statesboro girls' soccer team was 10-4 overall, 6-1 in region play and on the verge of winning their first region title in nearly 20 years.
    Thursday night, their season ended with no region championship and no postseason victories.
    It seemed like a flash from then to now. But after losing their regular season finale 2-1 to Wayne County to fall to the No. 2 seed in the Class AAAAA playoffs, a home playoff game seemed like a fine consolation prize considering Womack Field hasn’t seen girls playoff soccer since 2013.
    However Locust Grove — the No. 3 seed from the southeast suburbs of Atlanta — was there to spoil the party. After conceding an opening goal within the first 40 seconds, Locust Grove scored put two shots in the back of the net and shut out Statesboro the rest of the way to upset the Lady Blue Devils 2-1.
    “That was a solid team we played today,” said SHS head coach Brian Thomas. “They were great on first touches and knew where to be with the ball. We got tested tonight.”
    Isabella Gutierrez, scored the first goal in awe-inspiring fashion. After Kaitlin Carter forced a turnover in the Locust Grove half of the field, she passed the ball over to Gutierrez who did the rest on her own.
    Gutierrez ran through the midfield with five Wildcats trailing her heels, made her way around the back line into the box and slotted a shot past LG’s diving keeper to bounce the ball off the far post and into the net. Statesboro was up 1-0 with less than a minute off the clock and at that point, SHS looked like they would be in the driver’s seat for the foreseeable future.
    However Locust Grove responded by putting on the pressure for the rest of the half. The Wildcats controlled 80 percent of the first half possession, never really getting off a threatening shot but forcing seven corners and making Statesboro play in their defensive half.
    “They stretched the field on us very well,” Thomas said. “They were unlucky to only give up one goal they way they were playing.”
    The only other two first half shots came off free kicks right outside of the box following fouls on runs by Gutierrez, but the shots either hit the keeper head up or miss the crossbar wide. Even going into the second half, Grove continued to cut off the passing lanes towards Gutierrez as Statesboro started to gain way in terms of possession.
    Even as Statesboro had better control of the ball in the second half, their defense in the box which kept them afloat in the first half started to show cracks. Both goals for Locust Grove came off deflections from set pieces with nothing for SHS keeper Morgan Host to do but look on as the goals rolled past her.
    “That’s been our Achilles heel all season,” Thomas said. “We’ve struggled to clear corners all season and it cost us tonight.”
    Even as Statesboro couldn’t muster any more threatening shots in the second half and would eventually lose the game, Thomas was quick to look at the silver linings. He returns nine starters off of this team and should contend for the region title once again in 2018.