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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

South Davie’s girls soccer team got over the hump against Ellis, went undefeated against county rivals and walked off with an ear-to-ear smile.

The Tigers haven’t lost to North Davie in years, and they took care of business against the visiting Wildcats on March 29, winning 7-3.

South stopped a four-game losing streak while earning its first win since a 9-5 decision over North on March 2.

It got a sterling performance from Sarah Andrade, who scored all three of the game’s goals in the first half and finished with a pair of hat tricks (3 goals, 3 assists).

“Sarah was on fire in the first half,” coach Russell Hilton said. “In the second half, she was mainly the assist person. She was constantly taking it down to the corner and setting everybody up. She hit Jaden (Carter) on a corner that was awesome. Sarah took the corner kick. Jaden ran in and knocked it in with her head. That was probably the most awesome goal we’ve scored all year.”

Jaylene Rivera matched Andrade’s hat trick by going crazy in the second half, Carter had the other goal, and Rivera and Cat Rosser had assists as South beat North for the seventh consecutive time.

The Wildcats, who got two goals from Rachel Rodriguez and one from Caroline Mitchell, finished 0-7-1.

For the season, Rodriguez collected 9 goals. Mitchell had 4 and Monica Ramirez 3.

SD 4, Ellis 1

The Tigers played with a boulder on their shoulder against visiting Ellis on March 30.

They were 0-33 in the series, a rivalry that dates to Ellis’ inception in 2008. Not only had South not beaten Ellis, the results were miserable from South’s perspective. The running score was Ellis 185, South 12. The losing streak included 22 shutouts and 18 losses by five or more goals. South had come within one just once. And in the last season in 2019, the Jaguars ran roughshod over South by scores of 8-0, 9-0 and 4-0.

All of that is why the decisive win on March 30 was extra special.

“We’ve always wanted to beat Ellis,” Hilton said. “That’s been who we’ve looked up to. We didn’t have success against the private schools (Canterbury, Summit and Wesleyan), but it’s still a good accomplishment to be the best team in Davie County. That’s something to take pride in.”

Carter led the offense with two goals. Andrade and Rosser had the other two. Andrade also handed out two assists. Carter had an assist.

“I definitely told them (about the streak against Ellis),” Hilton said. “I used it as motivation and the girls played hard. Our defense played really good.”

The defensive stars were Sadie Link, Emmy Johnson, Dayvee Smith and Renna Margaret Welborn. “Those four played pretty much the whole game,” he said.

Notes: Ellis’ goal came from Lanna Robinson. … The Jaguars finished 2-5. Their scoring leaders for the season were Lylah McGowan and Stella Frye with 4 goals each. … The Tigers went 3-0 in the county and 3-5 overall. … There was never a doubt against  Ellis as South led 3-1 at halftime. … For the season, Andrade paced South in goals (9) and assists (11). Rosser had 8 goals, while Rivera and Carter had 5 each. Rivera was second in assists with 4.