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BY DAVE LINK
MURFREESBORO – Bearden’s soccer team is taking quite the journey back to the Class AAA state championship match.
The Bulldogs defeated Hendersonville 1-0 in Wednesday night’s state semifinal at Siegel Soccer Complex, riding the goaltending of junior Logan Nelson.
Bearden (20-3-1) will play for the state title Friday against Ravenwood (18-2-4), a 2-0 semifinal winner against Chattanooga Howard.
On Thursday morning, Bearden will drive back to Knoxville for its seniors’ graduation Thursday at 8 p.m. and stay the night in Knoxville before driving back to Murfreesboro for Friday’s 1:30 title game.
“If you can’t get ready for a state championship game, you shouldn’t be playing,” Bearden coach Ryan Radcliffe said. “I think we’ll be ready.”
Nelson will be ready after posting his fourth consecutive shutout.
He was in goal for the 2022 state final when Bearden lost to Brentwood 4-0.
“My freshman year we went (to the title match) and it didn’t work out our way too well, but just getting there was super exciting,” Nelson said. “Being able to get back out there is just going to be a blast. We’ve worked all season for this.
“We came out in this game and knew we had to be on fire. We had that (lightning) delay and it set us off the table a little bit, but we came back out and put in an early goal and that set the tone for the whole game.”
Wednesday’s matches were delayed for 3.5 hours due to lightning and restarted at 8 p.m.
Bearden and Hendersonville were tied 0-0 four minutes into the game when the delay began.
Dillon Sims gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute, scoring from close range off an assist by Aidan Ainsworth.
“Dillon’s been killing it this tournament,” Nelson said. “He’s kind of been in his head a little bit about not scoring in big games, and he scores two in our first game (Tuesday’s 4-0 quarterfinal against Walker Valley) and gets the big goal tonight. It’s crazy. He’s shown up exactly when he needed to.”
Once Sims scored, the Bulldogs relied on their defense and Nelson.
Hendersonville had 14 shots, and Nelson was credited with six saves.
Bearden had 13 shots, and Hendersonville keeper Asher Good made four saves.
“I think everybody here’s seen Logan since he was a freshman,” Radcliffe said. “He’s taken on a big leadership role for us and he’s led us all season. He’s a presence back there is something we’re lucky to have. I think we have some of the best goalies around, and Logan is definitely leading that pack.”
Ryan Bertotti had the last shot on goal for Hendersonville in the 78th minute, and Nelson grabbed it.
“Super, super stoked about (the shutout),” Nelson said. “We knew they had good hitters, kids who could smash the ball. They had good shots. I knew I had to look every time they got a bit of space, they were going to shoot it and they did. Luckily, they didn’t get too many on target but when they did, I was happily able to be there.”
Hendersonville knocked off two-time defending state champion Brentwood in the sectional round.
“We knew Hendersonville was a good team that was going to test us,” Radcliffe said, “and part of our pregame talk was we’re going to have to rely on Logan because we know he’s going to be big for us and he’s going to make saves when we need him to.”
Bearden’s boys have won five state titles, most recently in 2019.
The Bulldogs have a different look this year with several starters graduating in 2023, including forward Lucas Nordin, who’s playing at ETSU.
“I think the last couple of years we’ve been fortunate enough to rely on Lucas Nordin, an All-American,” Radcliffe said. “It’s kind of gotten under the boys’ skin a little bit. Lucas was a phenomenal player, wrote his name in the history books.
“Everybody thought we were going to be down just cause we lost Lucas Nordin, and I think the boys took it as a challenge, that we’re still Bearden. We still represent something. We represent the teams of the past, teams that made it to state championships, won state championships.
Radcliffe said the Bulldogs are also representing Knoxville soccer.
“I even think back getting through district and regions and not taking for granted the fact that we’re here,” Radcliffe said. “Being able for this group to get back to the state championship, my hope is it gives a lot of respect to Knoxville, to the teams we have to play game in and game out, our district alone. I hope even though we’re rivals with all those schools in Knoxville that we’re representing our area well in Tennessee.”
G-P ADVANCES TO CLASS A FINAL
Gatlinburg-Pittman advanced to the Class A championship match with a 3-1 semifinal victory over Madison Magnet of Jackson, defending state champion.
G-P beat Madison Magnet 3-2 in a penalty-kick shootout in the 2022 championship match after the teams played to a scoreless tie in regulation and overtimes.
The Mustangs defeated G-P 4-0 in last year’s state semifinals on their way to the title.
In Wednesday’s match, G-P got goals two goals by Yuiman Betanco Ramirez and a third by Carlos Turcios.
The Highlanders had a 1-0 lead at halftime.
G-P had 13 shots and Madison Magnet had seven shots.
Jeffry Valladares made five saves for the Highlanders.