Madison soccer falls behind early in loss

MURFREESBORO – When a team reaches the state tournament level, giving up an early goal is hard to overcome.

The Madison girls soccer team gave up two goals in the first five minutes on the way to a 3-0 loss to Chattanooga Christian in the Class A-AA quarterfinals at the Richard Siegel Soccer Complex on Wednesday.

“It comes down to measuring a team,” Madison coach Willy Cruz said. “Obviously, we hadn’t been to state, and we didn’t really know the caliber of teams up here.”

Chattanooga Christian (16-6-1) scored in the third and fifth minute to set the tone early.

“The first seven minutes killed us,” Cruz said. “Other than that, we played head to head with them. I don’t have a negative thing to say about the way we played. I think nerves definitely played a role tonight.”

Madison (16-4-3) is new to playing on this level as this was the Lady Mustangs’ first appearance in the state tournament since 2011.

After those first five minutes, Madison settled in and played well against the Lady Chargers. The Lady Mustangs gave up four shots on goal in the first 10 minutes, and then four more in the final 70 minutes.

Brittany Bray had the lone shot on goal for Madison.

Madison goalkeeper Haleigh Smith finished the match with five saves.

Chattanooga Christian’s third goal came in the 31st minute from Addie Henry.

The Lady Mustangs graduate six seniors, but they also have five underclassmen who saw quality minutes throughout the season.

“We want to definitely keep building the program and get back up here,” Cruz said. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, so we have to keep working.”

Michael Odom, 425-9754