St. George’s athletes stand before the crowd. The starting lineups from Harding Academy and St. George’s are announced one-by-one. Both teams have been preparing for this game, an elimination game that determines the fates of their teams for the rest of the season.

This game was the Lady Gryphons first game of the regional tournament though it was Harding Academy’s second. The Lady Gryphons won the game Tuesday, Oct. 11, 10-1. Overall, the team was really excited that they were able to continue their season.

“I’m really proud of us today because, going into this game, we knew this was going to be one of our toughest competitions, so we really brought our A game today, stayed focus, we were present [and] in the moment,” senior Isabel Correia said. “I am really proud of how we put the game away. Even though they had one goal, we came out with a 10-1 win, and I am really confident going into our next game.”

Correia is one of seven seniors on the team alongside Paige Marotta, Avery Whitehead, Gracie Maiden, Brook Goodman, Eva Neel and Sydney Brown. All the seniors were happy about the win, but younger players on the team were excited as well.

“Overall our team really possessed the whole game, and it really stayed outside of our defensive third the whole time. I feel pretty confident,” freshman Boo McWaters said. “It is definitely going to be an emotional fight to the finish.”

Though Whitehead was not able to play due to an ACL injury, she was excited everyone had the opportunity to play.

“I thought we played really awesome. We were together, we played as a team, and everyone was so excited to be out there,” senior Avery Whitehead said. “It was great to see some people that maybe don’t get to see the field during a varsity game actually score. Everyone on the bench was so excited for them.”

The Lady Gryphs are hoping to improve their ranking going into state as they play a game Thursday, Oct. 13 against Evangelical Christian School at University School of Jackson.

“I don’t want it to end, but I’m really excited to see what happens because I think we can snag that W at state,” Neel said. “I think we can do it.”