Top Seeded Milton Knocked Out of Girls State Soccer Tourney

Tuesday at Milton, it was déjà vu all over again for the Lady Eagles soccer team.

For the second year in a row, Milton saw their season end in the state tournament at the hands of North Gwinnett.

Last year, the Lady Eagles fell to the top seeded Lady Bulldogs in the first round. North Gwinnett then used the momentum from the first round win over Milton to take home the 2010 state championship trophy.

This year, thanks to a steady downpour of rain throughout the game, Milton's offense was never able to get on track and the No. 2 seeded Lady Bulldogs were able to outlast the No. 1 seeded home team 2-1.  Lauren Harriman scored both goals for North Gwinnett.

Even though his team was the higher seed, Milton coach Philip Broome never underestimated the defending state champs.

"When the Houston Rockets won their first NBA title, [coach] Rudy Tomjanovich told the team 'you can never underestimate the heart of a champion.' And I told the girls that," Broome said after the game. "I told them that whatever seed [North Gwinnett] was coming in, that they were going to fight and play desperate soccer and they did that. They played with the heart of a champion."

The Lady Bulldogs punched a goal in the net first only six minutes into the game when Harriman slipped past a defender and sent a shot just out of the reach of Milton goalie Emily Wangenheim.

Trailing 1-0 to the defending state champs after only six minutes of play isn't exactly an ideal situation to be in, but Milton fought back. In the game's 14th minute, Callie O'Connor – who scored two goals in the Lady Eagles 6-0 first round win over Dacula–answered the Harriman score with a goal of her own.

With the field sopping wet thanks to a steady rain, both teams had trouble controlling the ball. Neither team was able to get a solid shot on goal for the first half's final 25 minutes.

With the rain falling harder in the second half, it looked like neither team would be able to score, however, that all changed when Nora El-Shami attempted a free kick 22-yards from the North Gwinnett goal midway through the second half.

El-Shami hit a solid ball, but it was spiked out of the goal box–volleyball style–by Lady Bulldog goalie Michelle DeMaris. The spike ended up 30 yards downfield at the feet of North Gwinnett's Taylor Burns. At that point it was a 2-on-1 situation in favor of the Lady Bulldogs.

Burns then hit a solid pass to Harriman who sent a rocket passed Wangeheim to give North Gwinnett a 2-1 lead with only 26 minutes left in the game.

After going up one goal, North Gwinnett sent in two extra defenders and pretty much gave up on offense, the strategy became: don't let Milton score.

"They packed the box [after scoring]," Broome said. "We came out with a system that we were trying to execute and [their defense] threw us off. But you prepare for these scenarios, unfortunately, we didn't play the way we should have and North Gwinnett played on top of their game."

North Gwinnett advances to the state quarterfinals where they will play Kennesaw Mountain.

Milton finishes their season with a final record of 14-4-1.