The Lady Rebels’s soccer season came to close with a 4-1 loss to the Lady Lions of the Lovett School in the first round of the state playoffs. Lovett took an early game lead that was never relinquished.Lovett showed no love to the Lady Rebels’ offense. The Lady Lions kept the ball on the Fannin side of the field throughout most of the game, negating Fannin’s ability to score and increasing the Lions’ stranglehold on the time of possession.

(Photo by LT Melton)

The Lions were the queens of the jungle, constantly getting shots on goal, most of which were deflected by Fannin goal keeper, Hope Cochran. The first Lions bite came with 16:51 left in the first half when Kimberlin Rogers’ header off a corner kick assist broke the nil nil tie and gave Lovett the lead.

Fannin was unable to answer the barrage of shots on goal that Lovett was able to produce. The Lady Rebels came close with a fast break opportunity, right before the half time break, that was broken up by the Lovett defense, a common theme throughout the night. The Lovett Lions turned the defense into instant offense, with a goal by Virginia Seiler with 5.6 left in the half.

With a two goal lead to start the second half, the Lovett Lions did not rest on its laurels. Less than seven minutes into the half, Seiler scored her second goal of the game, pushing the Lovett lead to 3 nil.

(Photo by LT Melton)

Fannin ended the shut out with Holly Wolford’s goal with 29:15 left in the game, making the score 3-1 and energizing the home crowd. The Fannin faithful seemed to have renewed faith; however, the Lovett offense was clearly too much for the Lady Rebels. After several unsuccessful shots on goal, Seiler scored again with 15:07 left in the game, killing any chance of a Lady Rebels comeback.