By Michael Lindsay
A spotless run through District 6AA was capped off by the Livingston Academy Lady Wildcats Thursday as they defeated Cumberland County in the championship game, 6-3.
“It feels great,” said Livingston head coach David Saddler. “It feels good to be back up here and get another victory.”
Livingston Academy (16-1) went undefeated against 6AA play this year and scored 15 goals in district tournament action.
Leading the way for Livingston was district MVP Taryn Childers.
“It was all the teamwork and effort we put in,” Childers said. “Working together was the key. Just knowing each other from all the experience we’ve gotten.”
Livingston opened the championship with 6 first-half goals against Cumberland County.
Phillips scored her first of 3 championship goals less than 4 minutes into the game as she hit a shot from the left side to give LA a 1-0 lead.
Her second goal came at the 27:37 mark of the opening half as she broke loose from the CCHS defense, beating the keeper 1-on-1 to put Livingston up 2-0.
The Lady Wildcats’ third goal of the first half came on a corner kick as Jazmine West tapped in a shot from in front of the net, putting her team up 3-0.
With 16:27 remaining in the first half, LA’s Avarie Chaffin nailed a highlight-reel shot from outside the box, putting Livingston up 4-0 over Cumberland County.
Childers closed the period with two goals in the final 14:17 of the first half. Between the LA goals was Cumberland County’s lone first-half score, a shot by Nana Alva to make the score 6-1 at the break.
Cumberland County pumped some life into the game as they score two goals in the first 5 minutes of the second half.
Lady Jet Emily Farley put a free kick in front of the net that Grace Baldwin finished for the first goal. Peyton Dunlap then put the second goal in to make the score 6-3 with 35 minutes remaining.
“We came out at halftime playing a little flat, and they (CCHS) came out ready to go,” Saddler said. “Then we got our composure and got our legs back underneath us and were ready to go.”
From that point, Livingston shut out the Lady Jets to complete their perfect run through District 6AA.
“We come from a very strong district and have a lot of teams that play us very tough,” Saddler said. “We were fortunate enough to go undefeated and win the championship. They play us well and keep us on our toes.”
The district title is Livingston’s third straight following a massive change from last season,
“We definitely had challenges,” Saddler said. “We lost 7 defensive players, and we have a very young group on defense.
“We are going to celebrate tonight and take tomorrow off,” he added. “We’ll have a light weekend and come back Monday and get ready to go.”
Both programs advance to the Region 3AA tournament semifinals on Tuesday. Livingston Academy will host the District 5AA runner-up while Cumberland County will travel to the district’s champion.
More information on those games will be shared as available.
