The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

FOUR Government Secondary School Sports Association (GSSSA) senior soccer teams are finals bound after emerging victorious in the sudden death playoffs yesterday at Roscow AL Davies Soccer Field.

The CR Walker Knights, who are the defending champions, sent the fourth seeded CV Bethel Stingrays packing 1-0 in the senior girls’ matchup. In the same division, the third seeded RM Bailey Pacers handed a devastating 1-0 loss to the second seeded Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves.

Moving on to the senior boys’ division, the pennant winning Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves took down the fourth seeded CV Bethel Stingrays 2-0 to advance to the final round.

The Government High School Magic, who are the defending champions, will compete for yet another GSSSA soccer championship after defeating the third seeded CR Walker Knights 3-1.

Senior Girls

Lyric Saunders, who plays as a striker and midfielder, lifted Lady Knights over the Stingrays when she scored a timely goal in the first half. The defending champions thwarted any attempt of the Stingrays scoring which sealed their win.

Knights head coach Dan Weightman gave his thoughts on the team’s latest win. “It was a good game. It is the playoffs, things tighten up so it was a tight game. We were able to get a goal and then pretty much dominated the entire game. They did not get a shot and we felt good about that. We were able to play our full team and got the job done so now we are on to the championships,” Weightman said.

Coach Weightman is looking forward to being in contention for yet another championship and also has his sights set on the Samuel P Haven Jr High School Soccer Nationals. “It feels good. We have been here pretty regularly so we are hopeful that we can do it again this year and we have our sights set on nationals as well,” he said.

The RM Bailey Pacers got a game-winning goal from Janae Ariste in the second half of the sudden death playoff game to propel her team to the next round.

Pacers head coach Robert Johnson said revenge felt like bliss against the Timberwolves’ senior girls.

“This is like sweet revenge. We got them back because we lost our first game against Anatol on an own goal so we didn’t start the season on a good note and were looking forward to this game. During the game, our girls played really well in the first half then the game got tight. Anatol has a really great squad but we got it together, kept