Bridgeport High School boys and girls scored victories tonight, advancing both teams to soccer sectional finals on Saturday. The Lady Indians shut out the Lady Cougars of Lincoln High School 9-0 and the boys upset rival Robert C. Byrd in a 1-0 thriller.

 

It was everything a Bridgeport vs. Robert C. Byrd soccer game should be about, said BHS Boys Soccer Coach Zane Satterfield.

 

“There were hard tackles, a lot of good saves – and it was a great game,” said Satterfield about the Tribe’s 1-0 win over the Eagles.

 

That puts the Indians in Saturday’s sectional final with Notre Dame High School.

 

Going into sectionals with a 6-11-3 record, the Tribe picked up a 3-1 win over Liberty High School Monday night, advancing to tonight’s round.

 

Satterfield said he is pumped about tonight’s performance.

 

“The guys went out and stuck to the game plan. They played the way I wanted them to play and never let up,” he said. “They went the full 80 minutes and took it to them.”

 

The contest was scoreless until less than 10 minutes remained.

 

“Griffin Moon got the goal – a 35-yard shot,” Satterfield said. “Dante (Speas) – Byrd’s keeper – got his hands on it but couldn’t stop it.”

 

Leading up to that play, however, there was a lot of stopping.

 

“Their keeper made an early point blank save on a Luke Cox header. I was so shocked that (Speas) stopped it. He just came out of nowhere,” Satterfield said. “He made a lot of good saves and so did Noah Rhine for us. He’s only 5 feet 7 inches tall, but he came out big.

They were putting the ball into the air and he managed to get a hand on it and keep them from scoring. It was just a fantastic game.”

 

Saturday’s game time and location is yet to be determined. Tonight’s games were shuffled a little due to wet field conditions. Originally scheduled to play 5:30 p.m. at RCB, the boys played 8:30 p.m. at Lincoln High School.

 

Lady Indians Coach John Reese said his girls were on fire and played a phenomenal game. 

 

“We just came out and took over,” Reese said. “It was 5-0 at the half and we ended it 9-0.”

 

Reese couldn’t say enough about the girls’ performances.

 

“Everybody played fantastic – the whole team,” he said. “Everyone was passing and it was just an overall very good game. The girls looked solid.”

 

Natalie Prater played a fantastic game as center mid, Reese said.

 

“She was all over the place and scored the first goal,” he said.

 

After the Lady Indians claimed their semifinal victory, Liberty High School and RCB battled it out on Wayne Jamison Field.

 

After two overtimes, the game remained deadlocked at 3-3. Liberty won in penalty kicks and will face the Lady Indians Saturday. 

 

Photo of tonight's BHS/RCB game by Tyler Maxwell of Ben Queen Photography. Galleries of both games are forthcoming here on Connect-Bridgeport.