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County Champion Cedar Lee Girls Soccer Team Was Powered by Sixth Graders
Sometimes championship teams come in slender, light, baby-faced packages.Take the Cedar Lee Middle School girls soccer team, which won its first Fauquier County middle school title this spring with an amazingly young roster that included an astonishing 11 sixth graders.
Sixth grade, for those who struggle in math, is one level past fifth grade.
Fortunately for coach Harvey Fox, his sixth graders were talented beyond their years, and the seventh and eighth graders were pretty darned impressive, too.
“This is the best team I ever coached. The team chemistry was the best I’ve ever seen,” Fox said. “Every time someone scored, it was a humongous group hug. We specialized in hugs, hugs, hugs, and lots of jumping and screaming.”
The Cedar Lee girls finished undefeated with a 4-0-2 record, edging Auburn (2-0-4) and Marshall (3-2-1) for the title.
Cedar Lee wrapped up its season May 20 with a 1-1 tie with Auburn. Auburn's goal was the only one the Trojans allowed all year. Cedar Lee was led by star eighth grade co-captains Savanna Whorton, a goalkeeper, and Samantha Price, a striker.
Fox didn’t see the championship season coming, given the youth of his team and Cedar Lee’s less-than-dominant girls soccer history.
“We were always the team everyone wanted to play,” Fox said.
Since Fauquier County middle schools began offering the sport in 2001, Cedar Lee never had a winning season. While Cedar Lee has dominated in softball, winning its six titles in nine years this spring, and won a boys soccer title under Fox in 2006, girls soccer hasn't been as successful.
The stats don’t lie: Cedar Lee was 1-3-1 in 2006, 1-5 in ’07 and 0-5-2 in ’08.
This year’s breakout came unexpectedly.
Cedar Lee defeated Taylor 1-0 in the pouring rain to win its first game as sixth grader Kelli Burney scored the game’s lone goal off a corner kick midway through the second half.
Cedar Lee improved to 2-0 with a 1-0 win over defending co-champion Marshall. Forward Brittanie King, another sixth grader, scored the winning goal 10 minutes into the second half.
Cedar Lee tied Auburn 0-0 in its third game as goalie Whorton rescued the Trojans with eight saves, including one that Fox will remember the rest of his life.
“Savanna made one save that was as good as you’ll see at any level. She was going to her right to stop a shot in the upper corner. She was fully stretched out,” said Fox, who noted that Whorton was playing with a separated shoulder.
Fox said the tie probably saved Cedar Lee’s season...
See the Wednesday print edition of the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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