Junior LeighAnn DeVore heard her phone vibrate and picked it up to find a text from her soccer group message. Her face lit up as she read, “We made playoffs! We are playing the number one seed, Hickory.”

The midfielder felt a rush of excitement as it would be her first time playing in a playoff game. However, an anxious feeling followed as she remembered the opponent they would face in the tough challenge ahead.

The women’s soccer team traveled to Hickory on May 12 to challenge the number one seed. The soccer team played the first half strong, but eventually fell to Hickory, 9-0.

“We started off strong, and we definitely did not give up,” DeVore said. “We played our hardest until the end. This being my first time going to playoffs, it was a great learning experience for me.”

The team finished with a 8-14-1 record, allowing them to grab the 32nd seed in the state playoffs. The team will graduate six seniors at the end of this school year.

“We are losing 90 percent of our scoring with Samantha Holmes and Brittney Naef,” Head Coach Craig Long said. Next year somebody else is going to have to step up and be a scorer for us.”

Holmes broke the school and county records for most goals scored in a career and made the West All-Star team.

By Josh Conner