ACE girls stay hot with 6-0 win over Bleckley County to control region, boys complete sweep

ACE took control of its region on the pitch Tuesday night in a key league game against Bleckley County, defeating the Royals 6-0 thanks to precise passing and a hat trick from Kate Thomason.

“We were proud of Kate because she set the tone for the game by scoring early, then finished the game by scoring very late. She played the whole game through and didn’t let the lead change the way she was playing,” ACE head coach Robby Jones said. “She played really well and that was key for us.”

In addition to Thomason’s trio of scores, the Gryphons got goals from Edy Powell, EG Wood and Bayleigh Loosier to round out the win.

It was a crucial game, as Bleckley County and ACE came in with identical 4-0 region records in a tie for first place in Region 2-A Division I. The Gryphons were 8-2 coming in, while the Royals were 8-1 and had won every game since a loss to begin the season.

“They were the top of the table, and I told the team that. It was a great matchup to see who was in the driver’s seat,” Jones said. “They had an eight-game winning streak too, so we were able to snap that. It was great motivation for us in an important game.”

Things looked competitive early, though the Gryphons certainly had the edge and put pressure on Bleckley County quickly. The Royals dropped into a very defensive formation, keeping their wings at midfield defending instead of going on the attack.

“I hate to ever say that we’re going to focus on keeping them from scoring over scoring ourselves, but we knew we were going against a team like them that’s really good at possessing the ball. They really use the width of the field very well,” Bleckley County assistant coach Courtney White said of her team’s strategy to stop ACE. 

“We knew that we needed to sit back and utilize our wings to play more defense than offense, which was different for us,” she said.

It worked for a portion of the game. Though ACE did pepper Bleckley County keeper Jana Tomlin with plenty of shots, lots of them went right to her while others whistled past the woodwork.

The Gryphons broke through before long, however, as Thomason drilled the first of her three goals into the top left corner to finally beat Tomlin and put ACE up 1-0 about 17 minutes into the match.

The Gryphons then started taking advantage of somewhat sluggish play by Bleckley County as the half wound down. A few promising possessions ended up out of bounds before a laser corner kick from Thomason passed through the kicking legs of a pair of Gryphons before EG Wood hammered it home to make it 2-0 at the 29:19 mark.

“We used more short passes and quick passes, just stop dribbling and make them chase was the plan,” Jones said about breaking the Royals’ defensive gameplan. “They were subbing a lot early and rotating, but I think we had better fitness and it proved problematic for them.”

The score held at 2-0 through halftime, and Bleckley County even had better luck moving the ball across midfield early in the second half, but ACE eventually turned on the afterburners. 

Powell scored her goal early in the second half, while the Gryphons tacked on a fifth score courtesy of Loosier around 60 minutes in.  Thomason’s third goal put an exclamation point on the win with a few seconds left.

The win moved ACE into first place and Bleckley County into second, though the Gryphons won’t be able to immediately build on that momentum.

“We’re headed into spring break, and that’ll give us a chance to rest and reflect and heal up, work on some technical issues that we have,” Jones said.

The ACE boys rounded out the night with an 8-0 win to complete the sweep of Bleckley County and take control of the region in similar fashion.

“The boys region has been hard to predict, where you think someone should win they’re losing, and where you think someone should lose they’re winning,” Jones said before the boys game. “It’s just up for grabs, it’s a big dogfight for the top, and we love that.”

Sohan Patel led the way with three goals in the blowout win. Jack Carter tacked on two scores while Henry Carter, Alex Jordan and Ethan Snow also had goals.

The ACE teams do not play again until April 1.