Rebels come up short against McGill

HUNTSVILLE – The Vestavia Hills High School girls soccer team’s bid for a repeat fell short on Saturday, as the Rebels dropped a 2-0 decision to McGill-Toolen in the Class 7A final at John Hunt Park in Huntsville.

The Rebels advanced to the final after defeating Oak Mountain 2-0 on Friday in the semifinals.

“Everybody wants to be here,” Vestavia coach Brigid Littleton said. “Everybody wants to be in the state championship game. We deserved to be here. We earned it. We had a really hard schedule. These girls are amazing. No discredit (to McGill-Toolen) – they defended well, so hats off them as well.”

Vestavia had a handful of chances throughout the contest, but was never able to penetrate the goal line, as the game was scoreless for the majority of the contest. Both teams went into the halftime break in a scoreless tie, and McGill-Toolen’s goal with 21:15 to play in the game put the Yellow Jackets ahead.

“We’d been pressing and the wind was a factor,” Littleton said. “We knew it was going to be a factor and that’s why we chose it in the first half. When they got on the board, it was disheartening, but I don’t think that was the factor. The nail in the coffin was the final goal.”

McGill’s final goal came with under 10 minutes to play, essentially removing all doubt.

Littleton said fatigue was a factor for the top-ranked Rebels, who defeated No. 5 Spain Park, No. 4 James Clemens and No. 2 Oak Mountain before taking on No. 3 McGill in the final.

“Our team was pretty gassed from our game yesterday,” she said, “because we had a really tough game. We had a pretty tough road. Getting up that high for two games in a row and playing two very tough teams is difficult.”

With the battle against Oak Mountain presenting a physical challenge for the Rebels and the closeness of the game, Vestavia was unable to conserve any energy for the following day.

Littleton said, “We didn’t execute as expected. I didn’t think we’d be as tired because we are very well-conditioned…We didn’t get to execute exactly how we wanted to. Their keeper came up big a couple times. She’s really good. Hats off to her.”

The Rebels will bid farewell to seniors Anna Hogewood and Cambree Kennedy. Hogewood is heading to Wake Forest, while Kennedy plans to attend Huntingdon College.