JC soccer couldn’t overcome early goal

MURFREESBORO – For Jackson Christian to have a chance to advance, coach Jeff Lean knew that his team couldn’t give up the early goal and fall behind.

But the Lady Eagles did give up that early goal as White House’s Leanna Nesbitt scored from 25 yards out in the fifth minute as the Lady Devils went on to beat Jackson Christian 3-0 in the Class A-AA quarterfinals at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex on Wednesday.

“In years past, we go down 1-0, and it is OK we have the fire power to come back,” Jackson Christian coach Jeff Lean said. “We don’t have as much fire power this year, but after we gave up that first goal, we got better. We took it to them. The same happened in the second half. They got the goal, and we got better. That is a good indication of the character of this team.”

After giving up the early goal, Jackson Christian (16-4-1) controlled more of the possession and didn’t give White House (19-5) many more easy opportunties through the rest of the first half.

But in the early stages of the second half, White House struck again as Mazie Burrow scored on a header off the corner kick of Madisson Davis.

Mary Claire Swaim and Sarah Miller had the two shots on goal for the Lady Eagles.

White House continued to create chances, but there weren’t many Jackson Christian goalkeeper Kady Beth Cook couldn’t deal with. Cook finished with 23 saves.

“Our scouting report said that they are fast and like to get in behind you, but we didn’t know how good they were from distance,” Lean said. “So we tried to stay in front and take away their speed. Our girls executed.”

As Jackson Christian was pushed up and trying to create offense, White House scored its third goal on a shot by Davis off an assist from Nesbitt.

Michael Odom, 425-9754