UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Glynn seniors seek state title to close remarkable run

Apr. 14—The Glynn Academy girls soccer program has a strong claim to being the best prep team in the state over the past four years, regardless of the sport.

A state championship this season would make the declaration undeniable.

The Terrors' senior class is a remarkable 60-2-3 over the span of their high school careers — the two losses coming in the playoffs at the hands of the eventual state champion. Glynn's girls are a perfect 30-0 against Region 2-6A, and they can ensure perfection with a victory over Effingham County on Wednesday at Glynn County Stadium.

It's quickly become the standard at Glynn Academy.

"I think being undefeated is important to us because just keeping that title for the past girls, like the seniors in the past, that was always our thing: play together and play to win," said senior Kiley Clark. "We're not really a team that's playing to lose. We want to be there, and we want to win and finish every game."

This season has been years in the making for the Terrors. Over a decade even.

The backbone of the Glynn Academy girls' success is a team chemistry that goes back to when the current crop of seniors were just a band of kindergarteners playing soccer together on Jekyll Island. The group has remained intact since that time, and it's allowed them to blossom as high school athletes.

"We're all really close; it's like our second family," said senior Cortlyn Roddini. "We've all grown up together and played travel soccer together. We all know each other really well, and that's really helped."

There have been few rough patches for the Terrors over the past four years. Glynn has outscored opponents 397-37 since the start of the 2017-18 campaign, and only seven region matches have been decided by fewer than three goals.

During the few times the contest hasn't gone as expected for the Terrors, there is no finger pointing. The team can rely on their bond and connection to figure things out together.

"I feel like as a team we do really well at supporting each other, and knowing what's best for each other, and holding each other accountable for how we know we can play," said senior Whitley Barbee. "It's not just one person doing each thing — it's a team effort."

Senior Madison Brewer believes the Terrors have learned to hone its camaraderie into a weapon on the pitch: "I think we've definitely matured a lot, and over time, our chemistry has gotten a lot stronger," she said. "When we were younger, we were all really close friends, but we didn't understand how that really helped us overall in the game. Now, as we've gotten older, we've seen that when we're not working together, we don't play well."

The Terrors' seniors pointed at their first match against region rival Richmond Hill this season as an example of when the team's chemistry helped overcome a difficult situation.

A goal by Richmond Hill early in the second half sank GA into a 3-1 deficit against its stiffest competition for another Region 2-6A crown, but instead of putting their heads down and lamenting the end of the region winning streak, Glynn rallied back to snatch a 4-3 victory out the jaws of defeat.

"The conversation was really serious," senior Megan Hutson said of that night. "In our past years, we've really been able to dominate Richmond Hill, just because of the chemistry and how much we've known each other even going back before high school...

"So I feel like when we're down like that, instead of being like a lot of other teams and letting it defeat us — everything was against us at that point — we just rallied against it."

But more times than not, the Terrors are simply playing out the string to contests destined to end 10-0 in GA's favor, which makes it even more remarkable that they haven't slipped up once.

Although Glynn Academy enters a majority of its matches as the overwhelming favorite, the team has dedicated to playing its best each and every time it takes the field under the direction of head coach Thomas Lemmon.

Practices are no different. The team has an almost single-minded focus on honing its craft any opportunity it gets.

Still, it's human nature to crave a challenge, and the Terrors are waiting with baited breath to receive theirs in the postseason. First, it must take care of business this week against Effingham County and Ware County.

"I think we just want to win this game and get it out the way, then just start playoffs next week," said senior Brianna O'Brien. "Every game is a new target on our back, it grows bigger and bigger as each game goes."

A run to the state title game as freshmen in 2018 has been the measure of excellence for the current seniors, and after falling in the quarterfinals in 2019, Glynn Academy appeared to be set to return to the big stage in 2020 before COVID-19 prematurely ended the season in mid-March.

A majority of the team has returned to make another run at the state championship, but watching teammates Anna Meredith, Lacy Tucker, Beth and Mandy Kelsch, and region Player of the Year Haley Williams graduate without getting their shot was difficult.

Glynn Academy's seniors feel that they're playing for the Class of 2020 as well.

"There's sort of a lot of pent-up excitement about it because we got cut off so abruptly last season," said senior Sally Brock. "I remember last year when COVID happened, we met up with the seniors one last time, the seniors now and the seniors last year, and we kind of all cried together.

"We were just talking about how much we were missing out on and how they had their last season taken away, so it's like everything we do this year is sort of for them."

It's the spirit of Terror teams past that could give Glynn Academy just the drive it needs to get over the hump and bring a state championship back to the Golden Isles.

"We're pretty confident because we're still undefeated, and that's really big for us," said senior Martha Maldonado. "I think last year, since the seniors didn't really get to play because the season got cut short, I think it's really important for us this year to finish the season, hopefully make it to state, and win the state championship."