North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
By John Smithson
The North Myrtle Beach girls soccer team won their first playoff match 5-0 last week over Myrtle Beach but lost a tough one in West Florence and are out of the SCHSL playoffs.
The Chiefs got off to a slow start in the Seahawks match, the score 0-0 until late in the first half. Coach Kelsey Winkler blamed it on familiarity. “We did start slow. It’s tough to beat a team three times. You learn the way they play, and they learn the way you play. They actually outperformed us a lot during the match. We finally got a couple in the back of the net and won the match.”
The usual assortment of players made the scoring column. Macy Lockard scored the first goal for the Chiefs and Robyn Walsh the second to give them a 2-0 lead at halftime. Chloe Schmidt, Lockard and Madison Long added a goal each in the second half for the 5-0 final score. Lockard and Raphaella Nunes had assists in the match. Clara Cloninger had three saves.
“We have worked our butts off this season. The team has had a lot of injuries and some odd things that we had to overcome. We are proud to get through the first round of the playoffs and excited to keep going,” Winkler said after the match.
The Chiefs traveled to West Florence last Friday for a second-round match with West Florence. “We haven’t seen them play in a couple of years. They were in our region and will be again next year after realignment. I’m glad we got past the first match, and win, lose or draw, I will be glad to see what West Florence looks like for next season,” Winkler added.
Winkler found out about West Florence. “We lost to them 1-0 in a very hard-fought match. Macy Lockard had two shots on goal and Robyn Walsh had one shot. Clara Cloninger had 18 saves in goal and allowed just one goal. Both seniors in the match, Cloninger and Kaelyn Sanabria, played the games of their lives. They came out strong wanting to win. I wish we could have pulled it out,” Winkler said.
The Chiefs ended the year with a 9-9-1 record, 5-5 in the region.
