Lafayette tops East Central to claim 5A girls soccer title

Caroline Perkins was at the right place at the right time.

Perkins received a pass from Kateline Johnson and scored the eventual game winning goal with 26 minutes remaining to lift Lafayette past East Central 2-1 to claim the program’s second straight MHSAA Girls Class 5A State Championship at Brandon’s Bulldog stadium on Saturday afternoon.

It is the Lady Commodores’ third state title overall.

“I’m so proud of the fact that the girls were able to rise to the occasion. Sometimes I feel like I’m dreaming,” Lafayette coach Melinda Scruggs said. “Just made a couple adjustments we made at halftime and told the girls they had to dig deep for 40 minutes and they did.”

Lafayette struck first 10 minutes into the game when Leslie Perkins scored off a pass from Hudson Lindsay to give the Lady Commodores a 1-0 lead.

East Central tied the game at 1-1 10 minutes later on a shot by Alexis Cochran.

In the second half, Lafayette controlled possession of the ball and held East Central to just two shots on goal in the second half and three for the entire game.

When Johnson got the ball at top of the 18-yard mark, her pass got over the East Central goalkeeper’s hands and Perkins was there to finish.

“It was a good ball by Katelin, and I was able to score,” Perkins said. “That goal meant a lot to me to help the team win because I love this team so much.”

East Central finished the season 15-3-3.

“When our defense got beat their girl made a great pass and they had a girl in the perfect position to score,” East Central coach Amy Richards said. “All I asked from the girls was to keep their mentality, give a lot of effort and attitude and they did that. It’s been 13 years since we’ve played for a state title and the girls worked really hard to get here and we will learn from this and be back.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2020 at 10:17 PM.