The Grace Rams took on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the TSSAA Division II-A state championship game at Richard Siegel Soccer Complex on Friday, May 21, 2026, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Grace won 3-1. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY DAVE LINK
MURFREESBORO – Motivation was on the side of Grace Christian Academy’s soccer team Thursday afternoon, and it showed in a big way.
Junior defender Pedro Salvador scored two goals as the Rams defeated Chattanooga Notre Dame 3-1, winning their second consecutive Division II-A state championship at the Siegel Soccer Complex.
Garza Law is the proud sponsor of 5Star Preps’ 2026 TSSAA Spring Fling state championship coverage May 19-22 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Grace Christian (16-1-1) lost in a penalty-kick shootout at Notre Dame (21-1-1) on May 7 in the region tournament after the teams played to a 2-2 tie after regulation time and overtimes.
And Notre Dame coach Tyler Robertson was the coach in 2025 at Chattanooga Christian School when it handed the Rams a 4-2 loss early in the season.
“It was absolute motivational,” Grace Christian senior forward Colby Gouge said. “The coach beat us last year. That was our only loss. The coach beat us this year. That was our only loss, so we had plenty of motivation coming into this game.
“We talked about it. They were going to be physical, and they were going to try to get under our skin, but we pushed through that. We had all the motivation in the world to play against these guys, and we ended up taking the win.”
Salvador, who’s from Sao Paulo, Brazil, has played on both of Grace Christian’s state championship teams. He was MVP of the game.
One of the team captains, Salvador said he will return to Grace Christian for his senior year and try to win another state championship.
“My experience here has been amazing,” Salvador said. “The guys, the friends that I’ve made at the school, it’s awesome. Everything here is great.”
Salvador is one of several Brazilians on the team.
Grace Christian coach Isaac Brooks said religion brings all his players together.
“All the guys out here are here for a reason,” Brooks said. “They’ve got different personalities and they’ve got different cultures, but at the end of the day, we’re just a bunch of guys who are all humans and Jesus died for us. That brings us together, and we’ve got that root, that core as to who we are.”
Notre Dame played Thursday without junior midfielder Josh Bonk, who received a red card for his involvement in a fight at the end of Wednesday’s 1-0 state semifinal victory over Webb School of Bell Buckle.
Bonk is serving a two-game suspension for the red card, which will carry over into next season.
TSSAA official Joe Blair said Robertson also was initially suspended for Thursday’s state championship game for the fight. However, Blair said Notre Dame appealed the suspension, the TSSAA re-reviewed the film of the incident, and Robertson was allowed to coach.
Gouge said coach Brooks warned the Rams not to get involved with anything other than soccer Thursday.
“We knew that they were going to start stuff,” Gouge said. “We just tried to avoid them at all costs, avoid all the situations that we could have gotten into a fight. We knew that they were going to do something to us, and (Brooks) just told us, ‘That’s not what God wants us to do. That’s not what we should be doing, that’s not who we are.’ We definitely talked about not to engage in all that stuff.”
Instead, the Rams focused on the field and took it to Notre Dame, firing 33 shots at goalkeeper Giovanni Segura.
Notre Dame had six shots at Grace Christian goalkeeper Pedro Calil.
Brooks said the Rams had chances against Notre Dame in their PK loss earlier this year but it was a defensive adjustment that changed Thursday’s match.
“To be fair, part of it was they showed us we had a weakness on set pieces,” Brooks said of the earlier game this year. “Both their goals came on set pieces, so we’ve been working on that, and they had several set pieces today, but our guys did a good job cleaning those up.”
Notre Dame took a 1-0 lead Thursday in the 22nd minute when Owen Maddox scored off a cross by Luke Rossellini.
Salvador’s first goal tied it in the 29th minute.
Senior forward Vicenzo Barbosa booted a corner kick in front of the Notre Dame goal and Salvador headed it past Segura.
The match was tied 1-1 at halftime when Grace Christian had 17 shots to Notre Dame’s three shots.
Gouge gave the Rams a 2-1 lead during the first minute after halftime.
After a corner kick by Barbosa, Gouge punched the ball past Segura while standing right next to the keeper.
“The corner came in,” Gouge said. “I tried to leave it for Vitor. It bounced around. I was in the right place at the right time. I somehow got to volley it in.”
Salvador’s second goal made it 3-1 in the 63rd minute. He scored off a cross by Barbosa, also a Brazilian.
“It was a cross that I just tapped in,” Salvador said.
With the two-goal lead, the Rams controlled possession throughout most of the second half.
Gouge said the match was abnormally physical.
“It was the furthest thing from a clean game,” he said. “There was off-the-ball handsy stuff. There was always going to be someone hitting you, no matter where you were on the field, if you had the ball, if you didn’t have the ball, but that’s the gamesthat we like.”
Notre Dame was called for 15 fouls and GCA was called for three fouls.
Four Notre Dame players were issued yellow cards.
Rain started pouring down during the second half, but by the time the game ended, it had stopped.
And the Rams were celebrating.
“We were looking forward to this at this time last year,” Gouge said. “It’s the perfect way to go out as a senior. It’s a really special moment. You don’t really get to go back-to-back in these state championships, so it’s really special to me, it’s special to returners, it’s special to all the new guys, too. It’s a feeling you can’t describe.”
Salvador said it was the experience of a lifetime. Grace Christian’s only two state soccer appearances ended with state championships.
“It’s huge for our school, first time going back-to-back as state champions,” Salvador said. “I’ve never experienced that in my life. My first two season here, two state championships, that’s huge, and I’m so grateful to be playing with these guys.”