2000/11/01 Tennessean Williamson A.M.
Franklin High denies Hendersonville again, wins Sectionals
By Michael Clancy / Sports Writer
FRANKLIN, Tenn. --
One team hoped to end a streak while another one was hoping to extend one last night when Franklin and Hendersonville played in the Class AAA girls soccer Sectional final.
Host Franklin beat its rival Hendersonville 2-0, advancing to the state semifinals for the second consecutive year.
Hendersonville has lost in the Sectional final six straight years.
2000/11/05 Tennessean Williamson A.M.
Franklin High defeats Tullahoma in semifinals
By Anthony Coleman / Sports Writer
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --
Franklin High assured itself of playing in its second consecutive Class AAA state soccer title game last night when it beat Tullahoma 5-0 in the semifinals of the TSSAA girls state soccer tournament.
The Lady Rebels (18-4) played great soccer on a soggy pitch in a game that was delayed due to a penalty kick shootout in a earlier game between Knoxville Farragut and Germantown. Farragut won 1-0 and will square off against Franklin at 1 tomorrow at Finley Stadium for the state championship. "Farragut had to play 110 minutes and we had a chance to give a lot our players rest in the second half," Franklin Coach Jimmy Burchett said. "Hopefully that will help us out when we play them."
The first half of the game between Tullahoma and Franklin was a defensive affair for the first 21 minutes of play. Then Brittey Potts hammered in a shot from about 20 yards out into the right corner of the goal, giving the Lady Rebels a 1-0 lead at the 18:21 mark. Just four minutes later, Katie Jackson fired in a shot from about 15 yards out after Nicole Thompson set her up with a beautiful pass across the middle. After that Franklin continued playing brilliant soccer, keeping the ball on the Tullahoma side of the field for the most part. That pressure finally paid off when Ashley Church, the daughter of Vanderbilt women's soccer coach Robbie Church, slammed in the gamebreaker from about 20 yards just 21 seconds before the half.
"I thought for the first 15 minutes we played pretty well but after that we didn't play so well for the rest of that half," said Tullahoma Coach Richard Chadwick, whose team was making its second consecutive appearance in the semifinals of the state tournament.
Franklin added two more goals in the second half to go on to the easy win. "(Chadwick) has done a good job with that program," Burchett said. "Last year we didn't play so good in our first game here so we really let them know that we needed to come out here ready to play today. And they did."
Franklin 5, Tullahoma 0
Franklin Goals: Brittney Potts 2, Katie Jackson,
Ashley Church, Natalie Dunham.
Franlin Goalie: Amanda Martin.
Tullahoma Goalie: Ann Shelton.
2000/11/06 Tennessean Williamson A.M.
Franklin girls win Class 3A state soccer title
By Jeff Lockridge / Sports Coordinator
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --
Amanda Martin grabbed the Franklin High flag and paraded it around the field at Finley Stadium. Coach Jimmy Burchett pumped his fist like a victorious prize fighter while Brittney Potts did something resembling the Texas two-step.
These had been images of years past for the Lady Rebels soccer program. Now they are back. Franklin defeated Knoxville Farragut 1-0 in the Class 3A state soccer championship game yesterday to claim the team's eighth title and first since 1993. "This is incredible," said Franklin goalkeeper Martin, who posted her 16th shutout this season. "Our defense was amazing. They came out there knowing they were the best and they played like it."
Things could not have panned out better for Franklin at this year's state tournament. The Lady Rebels (19-4) dodged Germantown, which beat Franklin 2-0 in the state finals last year, when Farragut (17-5-4) ousted the Lady Red Devils in the first semifinal in a shootout. As nice as the situation appeared to be, Burchett was worried before the game. "Germantown is a power team and Farragut is a finesse team, so we match up better with Farragut," he said. "But that is also a concern. We beat Farragut 7-3 earlier this year over Labor Day weekend (at the Katie Hunter Classic in Oak Ridge) under different circumstances when Farragut was a different team. If our girls try to compare that game to this one, they may think they're in for an easy time."
It turned out the Lady Rebels had anything but an easy time. The game was scoreless at halftime and saw Franklin mount very few charges on goal early on. "We kind of thought we would score a lot more," said Potts, who was named Tournament MVP. "Personally, I didn't think they were going to be this tough. But I realized five minutes in that we were in for a tough game. We all realized it." Potts finally broke through for the game's lone score with 28:58 remaining. Her sliding kick into the lower, left side of the Farragut net from 20 yards out just passed the outstretched arms of Lady Admiral keeper Ann Zimo. "It happened really quick" Potts said. "I said, 'Hmm, I've got a space for a shot.' So I went for it."
Zimo made two spectacular deflections on shots from Franklin's Katie Jackson and Jessica Bransford in the following moments to keep Farragut in striking distance. But the Franklin defense never allowed the ball to cross midfield for more than a handful of seconds in the final 25 minutes, and Martin only handled the ball in play once over that span. "I didn't want to sit back on a 1-0 lead and just play defense, but I didn't want to get too aggressive," Burchett said. "I think the girls did a great job of handling it."
Farragut's best scoring opportunity came with about 30 minutes to play when freshman Alicia Frear sailed a shot over the Franklin net from seven yards out. Franklin returns everyone on the team except backup keeper Ashley Minor and, even then, will have just four seniors next year. "The pipeline is back to where we can compete for it every year," Burchett said.
2000/11/06 Southern Soccer Scene
Franklin, Ridgeway, BGA Win State Titles
Two of the TSSAA soccer state finals were as close as you can get. The third wasn’t close at all.
Franklin used a second half goal by Brittney Potts to defeat Farragut 1-0 for the AAA girls state championship, while Battle Ground Academy went to overtime before Kassidy Brown got the game-winner for a 2-1 win over the Baylor School for the Division II title.
Ridgeway, picking up the championship in the A/AA final, rolled over Chattanooga Christian 6-2 behind four goals by sophomore Geneil Newbern, who was named the tournament’s MVP.
AAA Championship
Knoxville’s Farragut downed Germantown 1-0 in one semifinal in a shootout (4-2) after the two teams had played to a 0-0 draw through overtime. Courtney Wolf’s PK was the game-winner.
Germantown had eliminated defending champion Houston in the regionals.
Franklin shutout Tullahoma 5-0 in the other semifinal. In the championship game Franklin held a 15-4 shots advantage over Farragut and forced the Knoxville keeper, Ann Zimo, to make eight saves.
Franklin’s Potts was named MPV of the AAA tournament.
2000/12/04 NSCAA/adidas High School All-America Teams Announced
MISSION, Kan. -
Ten repeat honorees are among the 167 athletes announced today as the 2000 NSCAA/adidas High School All-America Team for both boys and girls.
The girls squad welcomes seven players back from the 1999 roster, including two junior forwards who will have the opportunity to become three-time All-Americas next year: Kate McGregor (Simsbury [Conn.] High School) and Kristen Weiss (Walsh Jesuit High School, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio). The five seniors who are two-time All-Americas on this year's team are defenders Jessica Ballweg (Union Catholic High School, Metuchen, N.J.), Sarah Elnicky (Aquinas Institute, Rochester, N.Y.), and midfielders Elizabeth Dyjak (Ludlow [Mass.] High School), Tesia Kozlowski (St. Francis de Sales High School, Westerville, Ohio) and Randi Scheller (Kutztown [Pa.] Area High School).
The NSCAA/adidas All-America teams are determined through voting by NSCAA member coaches from across the nation. The teams, from youth to NCAA Division I, will be honored at the 54th Annual NSCAA Convention Jan. 17-21 in Indianapolis.
Brittney Potts, Jr., Franklin HS, Franklin, Tenn.