By CT McDonald
While Chapin’s varsity boys soccer team prepares for the 5A state finals this week, other local area teams have also advanced through their respective postseason tournaments.
The Eagles recorded two shutouts in the run-up to this week’s semifinal round, and then won that on Monday to advance to Saturday’s 5A state championship against Riverside. Chapin won the first round 7-0 against Sumter last week, and then beat Stratford 3-1 in Round Two to go to the third round against Fort Dorchester.
That’s when the Eagles logged their second shutout; 7-0 over the Patriots.
Then, on Monday, they beat Wando 2-1 in the semifinal round to earn the state title game against Riverside this weekend.
And the Chapin varsity girls drove deep into the 5A soccer playoffs before completing their run in a 4-2 loss to Wando in the semifinal round Tuesday.
They also opened with a shutout over Sumter last week (8-0) and advanced to put down Fort Dorchester in another postseason shutout (4-0) and move ahead to take on St. James and win that round 2-1 late last week.
Then they faced Wando early this week where they finished the season in the 5A girls varsity state semifinals.
Dutch Fork’s varsity boys also qualified for the 5A playoffs, and they kicked-off their run in the postseason last week with a 2-1 win over Carolina Forest to advance to Round Two versus Fort Dorchester. But the Patriots won that round 3-0 to move on to the third round where they lost to Chapin.
And in the 4A boys soccer playoffs, Irmo opened its run in the postseason against Westside last week and took a 2-1 loss against the Rams to complete their season.
The soccer state finals games are this Friday and Saturday at Irmo High School with the 3A games starting at noon Friday — girls first and then the boys — followed by the 4A games starting at 5:30 pm.
Then, on Saturday, the 1A/2A competition begins at 10 am, and then at 6 pm the 5A state championships begin with the girls first and then the boys when Chapin will take on Riverside for the state title.
