ACE loses Final Four battle in heartbreaking fashion after thrilling 1-0 defensive showdown

The adage goes especially for soccer, where counterattacks can swing momentum in seconds, where goals are hard-fought and often rare.

The ACE Gryphons played an incredible match Thursday night in the GHSA Class A-Division I semifinals, but incredible simply wasn’t enough — No. 6 Model needed only its oddball goal in the first two minutes to grind out a pulse-pounding, 1-0 playoff win at Friends Field in Macon to end ACE’s season.

It was the second straight Final Four loss by the Gryphons, who lost to powerhouse Fellowship Christian in the semifinals last year. Fellowship also defeated ACE the prior season in the playoffs.

“The past two years we ended on kind of a lopsided loss… this year, a very tight game,” Jones said. “To go out on a very tight game is much better than a four, five, six goal loss. Starting to close the gap, starting to raise the standard, raise the bar for this next group coming through. We’ll miss a group of seven seniors, but we have a large roster that will be motivated for the offseason.”

Aside from the lone goal, which came in the first two minutes of play on a deflection in a sea of players, ACE’s defenders suffocated Model’s offense. 

“We were looking for mismatches and trying to see who could fit where. They have a very talented group in the middle, their center back was really fast, so she could handle a lot of through-balls by herself. We had to really keep tabs on their striker as well,” Jones said. “We played well, but they were still able to score off that deflected ball… just kind of a strange goal to give up so early. I hate it, based off of how well the defenders played tonight.”

Keeper Macy Pierce was a force in the net and locked in to record nine saves, including one diving stop on a penalty kick and another where she snatched the ball right off an attacker’s foot just in front of the goal.

“She earned ‘man of the match’ honors pretty unanimously tonight,” Jones said of his keeper. “We just needed her at her best, and she was phenomal. Any other goalie would’ve given up three or four goals there. She kept our hopes alive, we just couldn’t quite equalize… I think if we equalize, we ride that emotion in overtime, especially with a great crowd. It just wasn’t our day.”

The Blue Devils returned the favor, however. The Gryphons spent plenty of time in the final third of the field, but Model’s back line stifled ACE’s forwards with great speed and smart positioning, always getting in front of the ball and forcing weak shots instead of open looks.

It was only ACE’s third home loss this season and the first time the Gryphons had been shut out at home since April 2 of last year against Morgan County.

 “We tried to serve some more diagonal balls, some of the direct through-balls were easier for the goalie to get. On this fast turf, that was harder to do,” Jones said. “We had a whole lot of opportunities in the second half, but we just never got it quite where we wanted it. They have a really talented back line and goalie as well, very athletic back line.” 

The Gryphons finish the season 18-4, the most wins in a single season in program history, Jones said. They earned the No. 2 seed in the playoffs by going 8-0 to win Region 2 without allowing a goal against a region opponent all year at home.

Model improved to 18-1 on the year and will play in the title game at Mceachern High School near Atlanta on Tuesday.

Model’s only loss so far was against Bremen — the top team in the entire bracket — at the end of March, a double-overtime thriller that proved the Blue Devils were a top contender in Class A-Division I.

The low score at the end of the night was deceptive. Both teams had bursts of momentum throughout the opening half.

The Blue Devils struck first with a goal on a precise header from Emily Gentry just two minutes into the match. The goal felt almost surreal, as a throw-in sailed into a sea of bodies and just managed to ricochet off the right forehead and get past Pierce’s fully-extended arms.

ACE spent the next 15 minutes or so in the final third, threatening to score but never quite converting.

That would be a theme of the night for the Gryphons, who had a good passing scheme worked out but often overshot on through-balls to their forwards.

While both teams had chances to tack on scores, Model easily had the best shot at extending its lead when they gained possession with ACE’s keeper momentarily away from the goal. The first shot bounced off the crossbar before the follow-up effort caught a Gryphon defender in the arm.

The handball gave the Blue Devils a penalty kick, but a phenomenal save by Pierce kept the score at 1-0, which held until the end of the first half.

The second half was more of the same, as ACE created opportunities for itself but came up just short near the goal. The Gryphons frequently attacked from the left side, but Model defenders boxed them out with ease to force weak shots the keeper could easily rein in.

“The message is ‘you should be proud of the effort you gave.’ I think ultimately they just really stepped up and were fighting for their teammates instead of against an opponent,” Jones said. “I was just proud that everybody was giving their best effort. Even if you go out with a little bit of an injury, everybody wants to get back in and keep fighting to try to get that equalizer that was just out of our reach.”