Bob Jones girls ready for state tournament, eye championship
Team captains Avery Batson (center) Ashley Dong and Isabell Stewart will lead Bob Jones at the AHSAA Soccer Championships.
Record photo/Lindsay Vaught)
MADISON- Friday at 1:30 the Bob Jones girl’s soccer team will make history when they take the field against Oak Mountain at the AHSAA Soccer Championships at John Hunt park in Huntsville. They are the first Bob Jones soccer team to make the state tournament since 2003 when the girls team won a state championship. A Huntsville area girl’s team has not won a state title since Grissom in 2006.
Bob Jones is on a run like no other in recent history. They did not win Area 8 but went on the road and defeated two ranked teams, Huntsville and Sparkman and currently are on a 5 game winning streak.
Now, they face the defending 6A state champions Oak Mountain. Bob Jones Head Coach Tony Shroeder is confident his team can pull off another upset.
“They are the best, they are ranked #1 in the state. They didn’t graduate anyone from last year,” Shroeder said of Oak Mountain. “They are the fastest team we have faced but we have gotten better and from what I have seen of them it should be a very good matchup.”
He has reason to be confident, he has the top girl’s soccer player in the state of Alabama on his team. Avery Batson is a junior who has played internationally and is one of the best players in her age group in the nation. She will sign a soccer scholarship with Harvard in the early signing period in November.
“Avery has had a good season, she has helped to develop the girls to get them to play at the speed we need to to compete at this level.”
The moment is not lost on the players.
“This is kind of a redemption for all those teams that didn’t make it this far,” said Batson who was on one of those teams as a freshman.
“I’m definitely excited for this game. We have talked about how big this game is and its going to be good having it near here and having a crowd behind us will be nice. We know Birmingham area teams are really good and competitive.”
Batson has played on the fields at John Hunt Park with club teams.
“They are the nicest fields in Huntsville, they keep them in mint condition, the ball moves really fast, its a good surface to play on,” said Batson.
The team will be without senior Anna Gierow who played most of the season but left before the playoffs to focus on track and field.
That is just one obstacle the team, which was under .500 in the middle of April, has overcome to get this far.
“We’ve been through so much it has been a journey to get here. We’ve had some off the field issues and tensions to overcome plus we lost some key players but we have good captains that have brought us all together,” said Hannah Ernst who scored a key goal against Sparkman.
With only 3 seniors on the roster Shroeder needed new players to step up.
Two sophomores Ashley Pyle and Hannah Ernst have developed quickly.
Amina Downey, a freshman, stepped up in the biggest game of the year with a goal and an assist against Huntsville.
“She has been on our team all season and we were moving her around to see how to best utilize her skill set and we tried her at striker right before the Huntsville game and she performed well,” Shroeder said.
Shroeder said that goalkeeper Taylor Felts, a sophomore, has been a big reason for the late season success.
“She has made some crucial saves in big games. She allowed only one goal against Huntsville. She has good size, she also plays basketball. She can get to the higher balls, and she has very good reaction time.”
AHSAA Soccer Championships Schedule:
Class 7A
Oak Mountain (22-3-1) vs. Bob Jones (14-7-1), Fri., May 8, 1:30 p.m.
Auburn (16-1-1) vs. McGill-Toolen Catholic (20-6-0), Fri., May 8, 1:30 p.m.
Class 7A Championship Match, Sat., May 9, 10 a.m.
