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BY DAVE LINK
MURFREESBORO – South-Doyle’s soccer team made program history Tuesday afternoon, rolling into the Class AA state semifinals with a 5-0 victory over Cocke County at Siegel Soccer Complex.
It was the Cherokees’ first state soccer victory in school history.
Greeneville, meanwhile, had to work overtime in its quarterfinal against Alcoa, posting an 8-7 victory a penalty-kick shootout after the two teams played to a 1-1 tie after 80 minutes of regulation play and two 10-minute overtimes.
Both teams play semifinal matches Wednesday.
South-Doyle (18-3-2) takes on Station Camp of Gallatin (17-5-2) at 4 p.m., while Greeneville (13-9-1) plays Millington (13-3-1).
Station Camp defeated Munford 6-0 in their quarterfinal, and Millington posted a 3-2 victory over Chester County.
Here’s how South-Doyle and Greeneville advanced Tuesday:
The Alcoa Tornadoes took on the Greeneville Greene Devils in the first round of the TSSAA Class AA state tournament at Richard Siegel Soccer Complex on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Greeneville won on penalty kicks. (Photo by Danny Parker)
MYERS’ SWEET REDEMPTION
Greeneville senior goalkeeper Tanner Myers made three saves in the PK shootout and had the winning goal in the 10th round.
Myers was in goal for last year’s Class AA state championship game when the Greene Devils lost to Valor College Prep 4-3 in a PK shootout after the teams played to a scoreless tie.
“I can’t tell you how much it means to come out here and be able to win in a situation like that,” Myers said.
With the score tied 7-7 in the shootout, Myers blocked a shot by Houston Whedbee.
“I just looked him dead in the eyes,” Myers said. “I smiled at him. I told him I really wanted to get out of here because I needed to eat, I’m tired, I’m hot, and then he smiled back at me, and he looked straight where he was going. I knew where he was going. I felt it in my bones.”
After making the save, Myers drilled the winning goal low and to the left past diving Alcoa keeper Jacob Baumann.
It was Myers’ first-ever PK goal.
“I’ve been asking and begging all season to take a pin, and it came up and I smashed that pin.,” he said.
Baumann, a senior defender, replaced starting goalie Kellen Whedbee, a freshman, for the PK shootout.
Baumann hadn’t played goalie in a game in a couple of years but has practiced in goal.
“Kellen has done great for us all year long, but on PKs, he’s a freshman,” Alcoa coach Andy Byrd said. “He’s exactly where he needs to be, and it wasn’t a decision that we made lightly, but at the same time, I talked with Kellen a couple of days ago, and Jacob Baumann comes in and made a couple of key saves.”
It was Alcoa’s second straight year leaving Siegel Soccer Complex with a PK loss. The Tornadoes lost to Madison Magnet 3-2 on PKs in last year’s Class A state championship before moving up to Class AA this year.
“It comes down to PKs, it’s a coin flip,” Byrd said. “Every coach will tell you that.”
Baumann made a save in the second round of the shootout, and in the eighth round, Greeneville’s Cristian Banegas had a shot go off the crossbar with the score at 7-7.
Holden Dalton scored Greeneville’s next goal in the shootout, setting the stage for Myers’ final save and winning PK.
“What a day for Tanner Myers,” Greeneville coach Jerry Graham said. “You’ve got to give credit to the other kickers. People don’t have any idea the nerves that it takes walking from midfield up to that PK stripe.”
Myers finished with seven saves, including one in overtime. Whedbee had two saves, one in overtime.
Alcoa had 12 shots to Greeneville’s two in the first half and finished with 29 shots to the Greene Devils’ nine shots.
“We can’t play any better,” Byrd said. “We could finish (shots) early some. You look at the stats, you look at the possession, and I think we had some great situations where we just didn’t take advantage, and Greeneville held on. The heat was definitely a factor, but we’re both playing in it.”
Freshman Jude Dyer gave Greeneville a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute, beating Whedbee off a pass by Sam Gourley.
Marcos German tied it in the 28th minute when his shot was blocked by Whedbee and he poked the rebound back into the goal.
Alcoa had 12 shots in the second half and Greeneville had four.
In the two overtimes, the Tornadoes had five shots and Greeneville had three, all in the second OT.
“It stinks for any game to be decided by pins, but it’s something we practice every year,” Graham said. “Obviously we stepped up and practiced it a lot more this year with the outcome of last year. It’s nice to see it turned around in our favor.”
Graham and his team did some quick homework on Millington after the quarterfinal win.
“We don’t really know anything,” Graham said. “We’ve been focused Alcoa. We’ll go back and do our homework. It’s a real fast turnaround. It’s probably going to be another knock-down, drag-out contest.”
South-Doyle Cherokees defeated Cocke County, 5-0, in the first round of the TSSAA Class AA state tournament at Richard Siegel Soccer Complex on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Parker)
HISTORY FOR SOUTH-DOYLE
South-Doyle’s Anestis Tiriakidis posted a hat track as the Cherokees – making their second state appearance – got the victory.
“It’s awesome,” Cherokees coach Sam Mitchell said. “It’s incredible. I’m just excited for this team. They’ve brought it all season and it’s good to see them do this. It’s awesome for them.”
Cocke County was making its first trip to the boys’ state soccer tournament.
The Fighting Cocks rallied from a 2-1 halftime deficit and beat David Crockett in the sectionals, earning the state berth.
“It’s an outstanding, great group of young men,” Cocke County coach James Groat said. “I’m very proud of them. They worked really hard against a great South-Doyle team. I’m excited about the future of Cocke County soccer. We’re losing a couple of seniors, but we’re going to be reloading next year, so hopefully we can make another run.”
Tiriakidis gave South-Doyle a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute off an assist by Roger Oseguera Cruz.
Cameron Harp made it 2-0 in the 36th minute, taking a pass from Tiriakidis inside the 18-yard box and scoring.
“It was nice, much needed,” Mitchell said of the lead. “We had some goals called back for offsides which was tough. We had to kind of check back in after getting unengaged for a second, but once we did, it got rolling and that was nice.”
Jude Straussfogel got the third goal when his corner kick was caught by goalie Luka Koncillio, who fell back into the goal.
Tiriakidis scored goals in the 64th and 78th minutes.
“He’s a huge player,” Mitchell said of Tiriakidis. “We’re super thankful for him. It doesn’t get much better than him. He’s a joy to coach, joy to watch play.”
South-Doyle had 24 shots and Cocke County had 11 shots.
Cherokees goalkeeper Jonah Mitchell made four saves.
South-Doyle faces a big challenge Wednesday in Station Camp, which was Class AAA state runner-up to Brentwood last year.
Station Camp has made nine state appearances and won Class AAA state titles in 2017 and 2018.
“It’s a very tough matchup,” Mitchell said. “We know we’ve got to bring it for all 80 minutes of every game. We’ve been playing hard teams, and we know we’re about to play one of the hardest ones. We’re looking forward to it and we know it’s going to be a very, very tough game.”