Story and photo
by Mike Maddock

Lower State Champs! Front (l-r) Vivi Koutrakis and Christian Patton; Second Row (l-r) Emily Logan Setzler, Emily DeFrance, April Seeby, Brittany Paul, Nicole Simmons, Melissa Spolarich, Frances Mann, and Meredith Calcina; Third row (l-r) Coach Lauren Eudy Hudgens, Cayla Fralick, Randall Dominguez, Krista Coleman, Bradleigh Birchmore, Amanda Steffen, Latoya Dixon, Caroline Barnhill, Camille Petty, and Ashton Tatum; Back row (l-r) Coach Ken Smith and Anjelica Johnston. Below Emily Logan Setzler chases down the ball. She not only played with a torn ACL, but scored the winning goal for B-C. The fans at Brookland-Cayce know how to have a good time.

They were out in force along with fans from Chapin Tuesday, May 9, 2006 at Brookland-Cayce High School in the stadium known as The Cage. They were there to witness the girls soccer Class 3A Lower State Championship game between the Brookland- Cayce Lady Bearcats and the Chapin Lady Eagles.

A group of male students came to the game shirtless with "GO LADY BEARCATS" painted on their chests. A group of fans was warned by the referee for disagreeing rather loudly with his calls and the J. Geils Band's song, Rage in the Cage , blasted over the loud speakers before the first and second halves. Friday night football games would have trouble matching this atmosphere.

The Lady Bearcats are very deserving of such an atmosphere though. They are the defending Class 3A state champions and after defeating Chapin 1-0, they will defend their title Friday May 12 at USC's Stone Stadium against Upstate power Riverside.

The battle with the Lady Eagles was physical and hard fought. Chapin's Katherine Rhodes and Oleva Durant each received yellow cards in the second half, and bodies were flying and falling everywhere.

Emily Logan Setzler's head-in goal off a perfectly placed assist from Christian Patton with 24:48 remaining in the first half was all the Bearcats needed to win.