The soccer season in Lexington County continues to roll along as teams prepare for the home stretch of their season. 

Boys and girls teams around the county are on hiatus until the end of spring break. Once returned, there will be three weeks of games left to improve playoff resumes. 

Five teams finished last week on top of their region standings and others are close behind with a shot to still win the entire thing. 

Both Chapin’s boys and girls teams are on top of the 5A Region 4 standings, sitting undefeated at 3-0 and 4-0. 

The girls defeated River Bluff and White Knoll for two region wins and added a non-region victory against A.C. Flora. The team won those games by a combined score of 8-2. 

The team beat A.C. Flora 3-2 after a pair of goals from Lila Bowers. Klaire Wenger scored the other Chapin goal for her third this year. 

The Eagles beat White Knoll 4-0, and then beat River Bluff 1-0. Natalia Todaro had the game’s only goal after nailing a deep shot that soared over the Gators’ keeper. 

The Chapin boys had a great first week of region games winning three contests over Lexington, White Knoll and River Bluff. 

The Eagles beat Chapin and White Knoll by a combined score of 5-0 before facing River Bluff in a rematch of the Capital City Cup championship game. Chapin lost that contest 2-1, but this time, things went the Eagles’ way. 

Chapin flipped the score on the Gators and won 2-1 to bump River Bluff down to second place in the standings. 

River Bluff boy’s are in second with only the loss to Chapin blemishing their region record. The Gators beat Dutch Fork early in the week to give the Silver Foxes their first loss this year. JJ Burns led the way for the team with two goals. 

Lexington is in second on the girls side with the team’s only region loss coming in a 1-0 defeat to Chapin. The Wildcats will have a chance to even the score after spring break with a game on April 9. 

In the lower classifications, Swansea’s boys, Batesburg-Leesville’s boys and both Gray teams are also on top of their regions. The War Eagles won all of their region games by forfeit and have been playing individually scheduled games. 

Swansea is in first place in the region that includes Brookland-Cayce and Gilbert. The three teams have been at the top of the group all season and little separates them heading into the final weeks. 

The Tigers are 5-1, so they are in first, despite Gilbert being 3-1 and Swansea’s only loss coming to Gilbert in a 4-3 overtime contest. Brookland-Cayce is right behind, 5-2, with a win over Gilbert but losses to Swansea and fourth-place Dreher. 

All three teams are scheduled to meet each other one more time this season. Hopefully the final stretch is as competitive as the start. 

Batesburg-Leesville is 5-1 in their region but has played double the games anyone else has. The team will now just wait to see if Strom Thurmond, the only team that beat the Panthers, tied their record before playoffs. 

The Airport girls, Gilbert girls and Irmo boys are not in first place entering this week, but all three teams are still within reach of the championship at second place and no more than one game back. 

Victoria and Vanessa Coleman continue to light the scoreboard for Airport. Senior Ella Harman has taken the role of the third member of one of the area’s most explosive big threes.

The Eagles are second in their group at 4-2 behind South Aiken, who is also 4-2.

Gilbert is 4-1 and second behind undefeated Dreher. The Indians lost to the Blue Devils earlier this season but will have the chance to make up for it next week on April 12. 

While Irmo has struggled against non-region teams, the Yellow Jackets are 4-1 against conference foes to improve their overall record to 7-8. The team only lost to top-dog A.C. Flora but can make up for it in the April 11 rematch. 

Other teams in Lexington County are still having successful seasons. Even if they aren’t currently top-two in their regions, some still have a shot to get there. 

For others, it won’t matter and a lesser finish can still earn them a shot at a playoff run later in the season. 

There is almost no soccer action in the state this week. This break will provide a lengthy rest for teams to refocus and prepare for the final stages of the year. 

Big Performances

Kinlee Mozley scored five goals and an assist in two region wins for Gilbert this week.

Brian Hinson-Hernandez had three goals for Batesburg-Leesville in their first win over Fox Creek last week. 

JJ Burns scored two goals for River Bluff in a win that handed region rival Dutch Fork its first loss of the season. 

Lila Bowers scored two goals for Chapin in their 3-1 win over A.C. Flora. 

Ella Harman recorded three goals and an assist for Airport in their two wins last week.