By Thomas Grant Jr.
The “Swamp Sweep” was completed Friday by the Lexington girls’ soccer team.
A night after the baseball and softball teams clinched Region 4-5A titles at the home of archrival River Bluff, the Lady Wildcats followed suit.
The 3-1 victory over the Lady Gators gave retiring head coach Chris Fryland his first region title since 2018. He now looks to lead the program to their second state title since 2016.
“Actually, at the beginning of the season, the goals were real simple,” he said. “We said we wanted to beat Chapin. We hadn’t beaten them in a couple of years. That was one. Number two, we wanted to win the region and then, of course, the ultimate goal is to win the state championship. We’ve accomplished two of those three.”
“He’s waited so long for this and he’s pushed us every single day for the past four years and I think we did this for him,” senior All-Star Adriana Dunat said. “He has led us to be the team we are today. After graduating seven starters last year, it was incredible how he transformed this team and led us to region. It’s great.”
Lexington trailed 1-0 midway in the first half. Summer Rios took the inside pass from Abby Stiles and found an open net for the goal.
Dunat, who was selected to play in the Clash of the Carolinas, answered a minute later with an unassisted goal to tie the game.
The second half got physical with the Lady Gators losing one player to a shoulder injury after a downfield collision.
Lexington reclaimed the lead with 29 minutes left as Abby Epp sent a headshot past River Bluff goalkeeper Addison Slinkard. The Lady Wildcats then capitalized off a penalty shot made by Shaelyn Smith to add to their lead.
The loss dropped River Bluff to third place in the region behind Lexington and Chapin. Depending on the RPI ratings, Lexington could be a second or third overall seed in the Class 5A Division I Lower State playoffs, while the Lady Gators are potentially a sixth or seventh seed.
The playoffs start May 5 and conclude May 21-23 at Memorial Stadium in Columbia.
