Gulfport girls win 2nd straight soccer state title. SSC, Long Beach boys claim trophies.
The Gulfport High School girls soccer team won its second consecutive Class 6A state championship on Saturday in Clinton.
The Lady Admirals topped Madison Central 2-1 with a pair of second half goals from sophomore Abigail Badurak and junior Kate Smith to overcome a 1-0 deficit at the half.
The championship was the third in the history of the Gulfport girls program.
“We knew coming in that it was going to be a tough match,” Gulfport coach Chris Pryor told ScoreBookLive.com. “Cecil Hinds is an incredible coach who has coached so many state championship teams, but I felt like we could play with them and that it would come down to who makes the most mistakes. They capitalized on one of ours early, but I told the girls to dig deep — it’s not over, and for us to dig our way out of that kind of hole is phenomenal.”
Gulfport finished the season with a record of 13-1-2.
Long Beach claims first 5A soccer state title
The Long Beach boys soccer team claimed the school’s first state championship with a 3-1 win over Center Hill at Madison Central.
The Bearcats had finished as the Class 5A runner-up in the the previous seasons.
“Coming into it — with the challenges throughout the season — the kids were prepared for this rematch,” Long Beach coach Andee Blaine Wilburn told ScoreBookLive.com. “I’m proud of them, and we finally got it done after three years in a row of coming up short.”
Carlos Torres scored the first goal in the third minute of the game. Ethan Myers followed with his own goal nine minutes later to push the lead to 2-0.
With about 10 minutes left to play, Torres came up with his second goal to finish off the victory.
The Bearcats finished the season with a record of 11-2-1.
St. Stanislaus earns 11th state championship
The St. Stanislaus soccer squad thumped Ripley 4-0 in the Class 4A title game to take the 11th state championship in program history.
Rockachaws finished the season with a record of 14-2-1.
“I feel like we were the better team from start to finish. We have a very talented group,” St. Stanislaus coach Zach Villarubia told ScoreBookLive.com. “We came out and took care of business and finish the chances that we had. Winning two in a row is a great feeling for us.”
Grant Sides scored twice for the Rockachaws.
SSC had 12 shots on goal while Ripley had one.
Other scores
Class 5A boys — Lafayette 6, East Central 2.
Class 1 girls — St. Andrew’s 2, St. Patrick 0.
This story was originally published February 7, 2021 at 5:13 PM.
