Photo by S.C. High School League
By Thomas Grant Jr.
The Chapin soccer fans who filled Memorial Stadium in Columbia Saturday hoped to see history repeat itself.
It was 10 years ago when both the boys and girls’ teams swept the Class 3A titles. This was part of “Super Saturday” as they, along with Lexington and River Bluff, brought championships back to Lexington County.
After a 3 ½ lightning delay pushed back the start of Class 5A Division II girls’ final, Chapin took the field for its rematch with Eastside. The Lady Eagles of Lexington County not only sought to win their second state title since 2016, but also avenge last year’s 3-2 overtime loss to an Eastside team seeking a ‘3-peat’ as state champion.
This time around, Chapin kept an early lead and gave the Lady Eagles of Greenville County little hope of a similar comeback like last year. Led by a tenacious defense and timely scoring, it posted a 4-0 shutout victory over Eastside.
Chapin finished the season with its 15th shutout.
“It’s really weird. It’s really weird,” said head coach Chad Bridges about winning state titles a decade apart. “Our word is faith, my man. It’s faith. Maybe it’s a God thing. His timing is not our timing.
“I didn’t really want to do the interviews last year because it was so hard, so tough. We had such a great team last year and we lost in overtime against Eastside. Just because you play them, it doesn’t mean you’re going to beat them. They certainly didn’t let us have it. They’ve been here five years in a row for a reason. But it is interesting.”
Chapin led 1-0 at the14th minute mark of the first half. On the third corner kick opportunity, Lexie Kilmon turned Maddie Lukens’ pass into a head shot past Eastside goalkeeper Laine Gregory
A couple of minutes later, sophomore Avery Stoner made the first of her two goals. With Gregory out of position after colliding with Chapin senior Jayden Irby, Stoner found an open net to kick through the second goal of the game.
Stoner’s second goal early in the second half was the more long-distance variety. She lined up and sent a 23-yard left-footed kick past Gregory to make it 3-0.
“My right leg hurts so I shot it with my left,” Stoner said. “I was really surprised.”
Chapin’s final goal with 24:56 left came as a result of a second yellow card issued to Eastside. Sydney Stoner’s free kick was deflected and Maddie Lukens kicked in the rebound for the final score.
The defense of the Lady Eagles of Lexington County held firm the rest of the way.
“You want to play at Chapin, you’ve got to defend,” Bridges said. “Our midfielder helped our back line. Our strikers come back to help our midfielders. We knew we had to help Morgan (Voelker) and we talked about that. How would you feel if you’re a freshman goalkeeper playing for a state championship? How would you be playing in this region if you were a freshman?
“So, we relied on our back lines. Sydney Stoner is our captain, our leader back there and she kind of leads the show. But Zoey and Mason and Cora have been stalwarts back there the whole season and then the back pressure from the midfield. So, it’s a mentality that we’re very proud of.”
Chapin boys fall on PKs
With the girls accomplishing their mission, the Chapin boys also looked to ‘run it back’.
Ironically, they were also involved in a state final rematch. In fact, it was the same Eastside program it defeated in 2016.
Their head coach Bob Taylor led the winning Chapin girls’ team that day as well.
This year’s state final match lasted over three hours and extended into the early Sunday morning hours. It was about 1:39 a.m. when Chapin missed its final attempt on penalty kicks and lost by a 1-1 (3-2 on PKs) score.
Eastside took a 1-0 lead as senior Asher Martin sent a cross pass towards the net for Ryder Martin to convert with a header.
With 9:17 left in the first half, Chapin received a penalty kick after Eli Vance was struck in his legs while pursuing the ball. Lucas Rogers lined up and calmly hit the goal past Brandon Jaramillo.
The senior goalkeeper for Eastside proved difficult to score upon for most of the game. His play stepped up during the penalty kick phase after the two teams stayed deadlocked for 79 minutes.
This included two 10-minute overtimes and two 5-minute sudden death periods before coming down to penalty kicks.
Both teams missed their initial attempts. Goals by Sam Szarkawski and Cole Keys gave Chapin a 2-1 lead, only for Eastside’s Hunter Kazian to tie it going to the final kickers.
After Frazor Kazian calmly gave the Eagles of Greenville County the lead, it was up to Gabe Sansbury to keep Chapin’s hopes alive.
Instead, his shot was blocked away by Jaramillo to end the match. He then ran towards the sidelines to celebrate the win.
“I hate it for these guys because they work so hard, and I couldn’t ask for a better staff,” Taylor said. “These kids do everything we want them to do. We just came up short tonight3
Chapin (18-5) was seeking its sixth state title in school history and first since 2018.
