Newton Citizen

CONYERS - The No. 6 ranked Salem Lady Seminoles should move up a notch in Class AAAA girls top-10 rankings after a 3-2 victory over the No. 5 ranked Lady Chiefs of McIntosh High School on Saturday.

The Lady Seminoles' first goal of the evening came after just six minutes of play when senior Jordan Young sent a cross pass to outside midfielder Ashley Miller, who tapped it in for a goal.

The second half started just as the first except that it was senior Bethany Austin of McIntosh who put its first goal on the scoreboard after just six minutes for the Lady Chiefs to tie the game.

With 18:40 left in regulation play, Salem senior Brittany Beaumont sent a long ball forward to Young whose strike landed perfectly just outside the reach of McIntosh keeper Nikki Atkinson.

However, it was not long before a breakdown in the defense found Salem keeper Shallon Hobbs on her toes reaching for a high ball that bounced over her hands into the net making the score 2-2 with 11 minutes left to play.

A rally by the Salem offense resulted in a penalty kick as Miller was fouled inside the box. Brittany Whitson scored on the penalty kick at 5:10, bringing in the winning goal for Salem.

Salem coach Heather Cheek was proud of the team's effort noting the "improvement in the defensive play in the second half."

The outcome for the Salem boys was not as sweet as they battled a very solid McIntosh boys team. The No. 2 ranked McIntosh team walked away with a clean victory over Salem, winning the game 3-0.

Scoring for McIntosh were Josh Ball, Matt Mateos and Ramsey Jarun. Bunky Colvin, McIntosh head coach, was very complimentary of the Salem effort noting that "it was a well played game with both teams playing hard just like last year; it was a quality game."