Lady Trojans’ run ends in semis

Published 11:44 am Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Good teams answer when presented with a challenge, especially with the season on the line.

The surprise soccer semifinalist John Milledge Lady Trojans provided the challenge in their Final Four matchup at No. 2 St. Andrew’s School in Savannah Friday. The second-ranked Lady Lions had all the answers though, defeating the sixth-seeded JMA girls 5-3 to earn a GIAA Class AAA finals berth.

“Their offense was very strong and very talented,” John Milledge head coach Jordan Walters said. “There were multiple people we had to mark. It was a hard-fought, physical game both ways.”

The Lady Trojans under first-year head coach Walters got on the board in the game’s first minute and a half, but the advantage would not last long. St. Andrews’ offensively talented squad evened the score less than two minutes later. The cycle repeated around midway through the opening half. John Milledge found the net again, and so did the host Lions after only three minutes had passed. The 2-2 tally stuck through halftime, providing the JMA girls with hopes of a second consecutive playoff upset and what would have been the program’s first trip to the championship round.

But that was not the case. St. Andrew’s went on a scoring run with three consecutive goals to go up 5-2 in the second. The higher-seeded team was helped by the fact that a John Milledge player received her second yellow card of the match. Two yellows equals a red, which came with an ejection and forced the Lady Trojans to play shorthanded for a good chunk of the second half. They could muster only one more goal to bring the contest to its final score.

Despite the loss, this season was without a doubt a peak for a JMA girls soccer program that has spent the last couple of years in a valley.

“I told the girls after the game that I could not be any more proud,” coach Walters said. “Last year they didn’t win a single game and I think they won one the year before that. To be able to turn that around in a single season and get us a playoff win to get to the Final Four was incredible. I kept telling the girls to think about what a privilege it was to still be competing when there were already so many teams at home and checked out for the summer.”

The scoring was spread around for the Lady Trojans Friday. Senior Mia Glisson had a goal, as did her younger sister Sophie, an eighth-grader. Rounding out the score sheet was one of the younger Glisson’s classmates in Maggie Mikel Peters. With those latter two talented players returning on a squad that was heavy on underclassmen, this year’s 11-8 record success could be used as a launch point for a more prosperous future for JMA girls soccer.