sms continues soccer glory for seymour schools

Just shortly after the Seymour High school Lady Eagles were crowned district champions for the second year in a row, the middle school Lady Eagles soccer team produced one their best performances of the season to win the Middle School Tournament Championship recently.

The Lady Eagles were forced to play the complete tournament with only 12 players, due to injuries and sickness, but adjusted admirably to bring home the championship.

With only 11 players at its disposal, Seymour was forced to dig deep in its depth chart to find a capable goal-keeper for the elimination-game match-up.

Lady Eagles’ sixth-grader Erin Thomas took the gloves and performed admirably as the SMS keeper in one of the most pressure-packed situations imaginable.

Thomas rose to the occasion and led a resounding defensive display for SMS. The Lady Eagles capitalized by taking an early 1-0 lead on a goal from eighth-grader Kelsey Burnett and held on to defeat Maryville Middle School for a ticket to the next round.

Next up for Seymour was the team from Karns, which really couldn’t match the pace in the Seymour attack, and Seymour won 3-1.

Needing just a tie to advance to the championship game, Seymour played North Middle and showed great character battling back from a 2-0 deficit to eventually take a 3-2 lead. The scrappy North Middle squad, however, rallied for a game-tying goal to make it 3-3 at the final horn, enough still to earn the Lady Eagles a place in the championship game.

In the championship game Seymour played old foe South Doyle.

South-Doyle had prevailed in all three previous meetings between the two foes this season and tallied early in the championship game to put the Lady Eagles in a 1-0 hole 12 minutes into the contest.

Seymour responded in a big way though, tying the game with a sparkling strike from sixth-grader Sarah Brewer before adding another marker from Burnett and then holding on down the stretch for the memorable 2-1 championship victory.

The victory was bittersweet for Seymour Coach Steve Green, however.

“While I was ecstatic for the Seymour players who played with such heart throughout the championships and gave me every ounce they had to give, I felt disappointed for the South-Doyle team,” said Green. “A lot of the (South-Doyle) girls had played club soccer for me in the spring and are a seriously nice group of players and parents. The South-Doyle team should take a lot of pride in a great season.”

Green, coaching in his fifth year with the Seymour Middle School, was also named Coach of the Year and recognized, along with the team, by Middle School Commissioner David Melendy during his championship round-up.

South-Doyle had a great year and certainly deserved to be there at the end on Sunday,” wrote Melendy.

“Seymour and Steve Green deserve the most recognition of all after losing to South-Doyle three times during the year and then to come back and win over them in the finals,” Melendy added. “Steve Green is an exceptional man and the program is very lucky indeed to have him on board.”

Seymour will celebrate the success with an end of season banquet when the Tournament MVP will be announced. Further details will be made available at a later date.