The end of the soccer season is in sight and the standings are starting to tighten with a few Lexington County teams fighting for top spots with only a handful of games left. 

Both Chapin’s boys and girls teams are in first place of the 5A Region 4 standings, but their lead over the competition has narrowed before the last couple of games. 

The girls team dropped its first region game of the year last week. The Eagles fell in a hard-fought battle but walked away scoreless against Lexington, losing 1-0. 

Wildcat senior Maggie Heffernan scored the game’s only goal to give her team the win. That victory pulled Lexington within one game of Chapin in the standings and guaranteed the two teams split the season series. 

Chapin’s boys are also in first place of the region standings, but a 5-1 River Bluff team sits on their tail, having played two more games so far in their region schedule. 

The Eagles are 4-0 and still have to play Dutch Fork twice, White Knoll and River Bluff. Chapin and River Bluff played a close match earlier in the season but the Eagles won 2-1 to give the Gators their only region loss so far. 

Teams are beginning to separate themselves in the tightly contested race for the boys and girls 3A Region 5 titles with Lexington County teams sitting on top. 

Swansea and Brookland Cayce’s boys squads are in the top two spots entering the last two weeks of the season.  

The two teams will face off this week for a highly-anticipated match that will determine who enters the final week of the season in first place. Half a game separates the two in the standings with Swansea sitting at 6-1 and Brookland-Cayce at 6-2. 

The Tigers and Bearcats already played once this season, and Swansea won that game 2-1. Juel Rivers had both goals for Swansea to give his team an advantage over Brookland-Cayce. 

Rivers has been one of the Tigers’ best players this season leading the team in goals with 21 this year. He had a big game last week against Lower Richland, scoring five of the team’s eight goals. 

Gilbert’s girls have jumped out front in the girls race, sitting at 7-1 in the standings above 6-1 Dreher and 5-3 Brookland-Cayce. 

The Indians’ only loss in the region came to Dreher, but that loss was avenged last week in a 2-0 Gilbert win. Kinlee Mozley and Avery Campbell each scored to give Gilbert the victory. 

Gilbert was set to play Brookland-Cayce on April 16 after the Chronicle’s press deadline. That game could be crucial for the Bearcats and their playoff seeding. 

The Airport girls continue to display their explosive offense and sit in a position to compete for a region title. The Eagles enter this week tied for first with South Aiken at 4-2 after splitting their season series. 

Airport was set to play North Augusta April 16. That game will give the team a chance to separate itself in the standings, but it will need a South Aiken loss to either Midland Valley or Aiken to win the region outright. 

The rest of the region is worthy competition, with all but one team sitting at two losses as well, just with fewer games played. The odd team out is 0-5 Midland Valley. 

Batesburg-Leesville’s boys returned to action for the first time since March with a non-region match against Brookland-Cayce on April 17. The Panthers are awaiting the rest of their region to finish playing games to see if they come out on top.

The Panthers went 5-1 against conference foes, splitting their series against Strom Thurmond. To win the region outright, the Panthers need Strom Thurmond to drop one of its two games against Fox Creek this week. 

With so few games left to go, teams are scrambling for their final few wins and looking to improve their position even if they aren’t competing for the top spot in the region. The wins will count the same as earlier ones, but they will come with a greater sense of urgency now that teams know what is on the line.

Big Performances

Juel Rivers scored five goals for Swansea against Lower Richland last week. 

Hailey Jiminez-Cortez scored four goals for Brookland-Cayce to lift the team over Orangeburg-Wilkinson. 

Victoria Coleman finished with three goals for Airport in the Eagles’ win over cross-town rival Brookland-Cayce. 

Gavin Hardwick had two goals and two assists for Gilbert in the Indians’ win over Lower Richland. 

Jennifer Gause had two goals and an assist for Northside Chrisitan this week. The seventh grader led the team in its 6-0 win over Irmo. 

Games to watch

Brookland-Caycee vs. Swansea boys — April 18 — 7 p.m. 

Swansea vs. Brookland-Cayce girls — April 18 — 8 p.m.

Gray Collegiate vs. Legion Collegiate — April 19 — 5:30 p.m.

River Bluff vs. Dutch Fork boys — April 19 — 7:15 p.m.