By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
Ian Leslie has been spreading a rumor, and now the secret is out.
“I’ve been kind of quietly sharing the secret that BA is a soccer school,” Leslie said on Sunday’s LowcoSports Lowdown. “It kind of always has been a soccer school. The heritage of soccer at BA is amazing.”
Another chapter of the legacy was written Saturday in Columbia, where Beaufort Academy’s boys and girls soccer teams swept state titles.
BA’s girls went to overtime with Cambridge Academy before scoring twice in extra time for a 3-1 win and their second SCISA 2A/1A state title in three years. And the dynasty might just be getting started, because sophomore sensation Keiley Good — who already has scored more than 100 goals in her BA career — was the most senior player to find the back of the net for the Eagles. Freshman Connelly Buis and eighth-grader Lindsey Trice also scored in the championship match.
“The girls really fought,” Leslie said. “They were up 1-0 most of the game, and Cambridge tied it up late in the second, and the girls just kind of put it on in the overtime.”
That set the stage for a potential sweep, and Leslie’s boys were up to the task, scoring two first-half goals and shutting down Marlboro Academy for a 2-0 win that atoned for a loss in the championship game two years ago.
“Our captain, Grady Lamm, said we were the favorite two years ago and we should have won, and we were the favorite yesterday, so a lot of pressure there,” Leslie said. “It was a great day. A great day to win a championship.”
Lamm and football star Nych Underwood anchored a dangerous attack, but it was the Eagles’ defense that put them over the top in the postseason.
“Scoring goals wasn’t an issue all season,” Leslie said. “Then all of a sudden, the boys decided they were going to play some of the most ridiculous defense in the playoffs. We gave up one playoff goal. Pretty incredible defense.”
And with a wealth of young talent returning to the girls’ squad and Lamm as the only senior on the boys’ roster, the Eagles are set up for an incredible title defense.
After all, BA is a soccer school.
Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and the founder of LowcoSports.com. He was the sports editor of the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette for 6½ years. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.
