Clear to partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..
Clear to partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: May 4, 2024 @ 4:47 pm
St. James Katie Brightwell scores one of her five goals as Tuscaloosa Academy’s Annemarie Henderson tries to cut off the kick.
St. James Mary Grace Hixon swoops in to steal the ball from Tuscaloosa Academy’s Cate Ramey.
Tuscaloosa Academy’s Annemarie Henderson nudges St. James Natalie Barton (5) out of the way, sending Barton for a tumble in the second half of Friday’s game.
St. James Katie Brightwell scores one of her five goals as Tuscaloosa Academy’s Annemarie Henderson tries to cut off the kick.
St. James Mary Grace Hixon swoops in to steal the ball from Tuscaloosa Academy’s Cate Ramey.
Tuscaloosa Academy’s Annemarie Henderson nudges St. James Natalie Barton (5) out of the way, sending Barton for a tumble in the second half of Friday’s game.
After encountering stronger than expected resistance from Prattville Christian Academy on Tuesday, the Saint James girls’ soccer team made a very impressive showing on Thursday against the Tuscaloosa Academy Knights landing a 9-0 victory in the quarter final matchup.
The Trojans (15-1-1), who came within one point of a mercy rule victory against the Knights will face St. Luke’s Episcopal (14-6-2) in the Class 1A-3A semifinals at the state tournament in Huntsville on Wednesday at 9 a.m.
Tuscaloosa Academy ends the season at 9-4.
“We got momentum fast in the beginning, and it just continued throughout the game,” said senior Katie Brightwell, the career scoring leader in AHSAA history who extended her record to 252 career goals after scoring five on Friday. “Our energy stayed high, and everyone came to play for everybody tonight.”
Brightwell and eight other Trojan seniors are hoping for a big splash in their final high school season. The graduating seniors account for a third of the team and after a long playoff drought the team started making headway when this group were sophomores.
“So we’re headed to the final for our third year in a row,” said St. James coach Charlie Brightwell. “This program hadn’t been to a final four since 1993. Two years ago, we finally made that hurdle and we got to a semifinal. Last year we got to the final. So, obviously, the goal this year is to go in very focused, see if we can’t get back to a final. God willing, to finish what we didn’t.”
As for the rout of the Tuscaloosa Knights, Coach Brightwell was obviously pleased.
“Now overall, I really thought the girls came very focused. Our training yesterday was very good. We did some film study and I thought their focus was very good yesterday and they brought that to the field today and I thought it showed. You know, we’ve got a really good group of seniors that are fighting for their last run. This team’s trying to leave a legacy behind. Hopefully it can end with a happy day,” Brightwell said.
In addition to Brightwell’s five goals, the senior also had two assists. Natalie Barton, Molly Phillips, Mary Grace Hixon and Hope McCain each had a goal. Hixon assisted on three others, while Natalie Barton, Hope McCain and Elliette Barton each had an assist.
The Trojans faced more resistance in the first round of the playoffs than they expected with PCA, who they beat 4-0. In particular PCA had three guards just for Katie Brightwell, keeping her tied up for much of the game. Coach Brightwell said that certainly caused a re-evaluation that ended up paying off with the contest against the Knights.
“We ran into a bit of adversity,” he said. “They (PCA) did some things we hadn’t run into, we didn’t solve it well. So the girls battled, they got through the game, but it made us go back and reevaluate some things and I think it was really a big blessing in disguise because it made us work harder. Much harder fought game than we thought it might be. Credit to PCA because I thought they came and played extremely tough and did their job very well. But it pushed us to come together, play a little more for each other, build off each other.
“I thought today we made a real big push to come out early and connect and try to see if we could finish early. You know we’ve created chances all year but we haven’t finished early. Well today we did. Any time we can get ahead of someone we’re a tough team to catch, because we can move the ball. We are athletic. So it just opens more things up for our team. I want to try to be very compact now. They have to come ready because once you get to the playoffs, there is no second chance.”
As for the younger Brightwell, she said the team is looking at the challenge in front of them and not getting too distracted by the possibility of winning the big trophy.
“I think this season we’re really trying to be careful about taking it one step at a time and not getting ahead of ourselves. But we are trying to be really confident in the abilities and the talents that we have. And so we’re really excited to get back there and have a shot to win big.”
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