Brentwood is the No. 1 seed in the district tournament. Pictured here is BHS senior defender Christine Caldwell.
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Updated Thursday, 1:49 p.m.
Brentwood plays Franklin in 7 p.m. finals Thursday
By SUSAN T. LEATHERS
Brentwood Home Page
Brentwood's Lady Bruins' soccer team takes its No. 1 seed into tonight's 7 p.m. District 11-AAA championship match against No. 2-seed Franklin. Both teams played grueling semi-final matches Wednesday at the tournament, hosted by BHS.
Brentwood finally beat Centennial 1-0, while No. 3 seed Ravenwood pushed Franklin but fell 3-1.
Last year’s state runners-up, Brentwood’s Lady Bruins could be headed to Chattanooga again after finishing their regular season with a perfect 13-0-1 (4-0-1 district) record.
Head Coaches Clay Watson of Ravenwood and Michael Purcell shared their thoughts about their teams’ respective regular seasons with Brentwood Home Page.
 “Our regular season played out really well. We knew we were going to have to have work hard to learn how to win with this young group and challenge ourselves to gel as a team and we have done a nice job of it finishing third in the district,” Watson said. One of his only disappointments, he said was “the fact that we have tied so many games instead of converting those to wins ... 13 of the 16 games we played this year have been decided by one goal or less.”
“Kerrie Knox has been our offensive spark while Alyse Rothenberger has been our most solid defender,” Watson said.
Injuries had an impact, however. Starting defender, senior Sarah Brown tore her MCL in the preseason. She worked hard to get back on the field only to tear it again late in the season. “Jordan Casady was also a starter who went down early to injury and is just now coming back,” he added.
“We are carrying 10 freshmen on our roster into the postseason. We started the season as a young and inexperienced team but to go though the season and only lose three games with the competition we have had is a great thing. We are very excited about the opportunity in front of us,” Watson said.
“Having a bye in the first round is a huge deal. We now simply have to play our hardest to put ourselves in a position to beat Franklin.”
At Brentwood, Head Coach Michael Purcell’s Lady Bruins have done what no other BHS girls soccer team has done before: End the regular season undefeated.
“I think that most folks would not have expected us to be unbeaten,” said Purcell, who added that he was among the surprised.
“The highlight of the season has been the progress of the team from day one and the way that the girls have come together as a team. Going into the season we were desperately in need of midfielders as we lost our entire group to graduation. Replacing those four girls was a big challenge but our midfielders have responded quite well,” he said.
“Karli Crosby and Emily Thornton on the inside and Meg Howard and Kelsay Neely on the outside have clicked and produced more than I expected.”
Four returning defensive starters helped make up for the loss of midfield players. They include goalie, Savannah Shipman and Lucy Pater who were both named to the All-State team last year. The coach also mentioned the play of Christine Caldwell, Carly O’Connell and Jani Lakeman, who “has stepped in and done a fine job at stopper.”
“Our offense has been lead by Audrey Howard, who has scored 16 goals and Carly Overmyer has added nine,” Purcell said.
Brentwood has not been plagued with injuries but one has hurt. Shannon Thompson, a senior midfielder and captain, has  battled a quad injury. Purcell hopes she’ll be ready for post-season play. Purcell said his team is looking forward to the post season. “The challenge is to stay focused and aware of the fact that with only a couple of exceptions, a loss will end their season and that every team we play will bring their best game,” he said.
The two top teams in the district will move on to regional action.
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