The road to the Class 5A Lower State girls' soccer final will go through a different part of Lexington this year. 
Undefeated River Bluff, ranked 13th nationally by USA Today High School Sports, wrapped up a first-ever Region 5-5A title Thursday with a 3-1 win over longtime nemesis Lexington on Thursday. 
"It's always nice to win the region and do it here tonight against Lexington is obviously a good cap in the feather for the girls," head coach K.C. Dunbaker said. "Credit to Lexington. They came out, played us hard the entire time. Made us had to work the entire 80 minutes. But, luckily, we have now secured region. We have White Knoll ahead of us to finish out region play after we come back from Spring Break. But it's nice to go out and know prior to that that we've secured that first seed." 
In ending the Lady Wildcats' 4-year reign as region champion, the Lady Gators took a 2-0 halftime lead on goals by Sophia Monsma and Hannah Rose Corley. 
Trinity Broach cut the deficit to 2-1 off an assist by Kellyn Motley at the 11:25 mark of the 2nd half. Top-scorer Jordan Mishoe iced the win for River Bluff (16-0-1, 7-0) with a breakaway goal with 3 minutes left. 
The Lady Gators return to action April 18 at James Island and close out region play at White Knoll on April 23. They close out the regular season two nights later at home versus Cardinal Newman and will begin the quest for a 1st ever state title with homefield advantage throughout the Lower State playoffs.
"You see 3 different opponents, 3 different areas and, obviously, 3 different levels as well," Dunbaker said. "This allows us to look at different things, assess different players, get everyone healthy and, hopefully, look forward to a quality run in the post-season. 
Meanwhile, last year's Lower State champion Lexington (8-10, 3-5) will seek an at-large berth for the playoffs with 2 matches left. Because of the head-to-head tiebreaker, Chapin will finish 3rd in the region. 

BOYS SOCCER
Gilbert 3, Swansea 0 

By Justin Hill 

justin@blowfishball.com

Championship moments were there to be had in Gilbert on Thursday. 
The Gilbert Boy’s soccer team defeated Swansea on a beautiful night to claim a 2nd straight Region 5-3A title for the first time in school history. 
The Indians jumped on top early with a goal just six minutes into the contest.
“Just keep within ourselves, don’t give into the moment" is what Coach Setlzer told me after the victory. “We wanted to control what we could control.”
And control they did. Gilbert never trailed in what was a Region 5-3A championship game for the Indians.
Angel Boraza came through for the Indians tonight, with Setzler simply saying “he’s special” after the game.
“We came out with a will to win and a passion,” he stated. “And that goes back to training, preseason, open play. We wanted to be region champs for the second year in a row.”
With back-to-back region titles, the Indians will now head to the Nike Palmetto Cup starting Monday at Saluda Shoals Park. 
Gilbert still has a few games left on the schedule and Setzler hasn’t even thought about Round 1 of the playoffs.
“I haven’t even looked at who we’ll play," he said. "I haven’t worried about it. As long as we shore up region play, somebody’s gotta come to Gilbert, America and play the Indians.”
 

Dutch Fork 3, White Knoll 0
Jordan Johnson, Elliott Fish and Damon Williams all scored as the nationally-ranked Silver Foxes wrapped up the Region 5-5A title with the victory.
Up next for Dutch Fork (13-1, 7-1) is an April 24 road matchup versus Spring Valley.

River Bluff 1, Lexington 0
A second half goal lifted the Gators to a win that clinched 2nd place in Region 5-5A.
River Bluff (12-4, 6-2) returns to action April 23 at home versus Ridge View. Lexington (9-8-1, 4-4) will compete in the Nike Palmetto Cup that starts Monday at Saluda Shoals Park.