CSD sprints to a 5-1 victory over Franklin Academy in 1A Championship

Community School of Davidson jumped on top of Franklin Academy in the opening minute as the Spartans netted a Julia Grainda header off a corner kick by Lissi Gordon to open the 1A Women’s Soccer State Championship with a bang. The Spartans found the back of the net four more times on the day, including another by Grainda, who added a pair of assists on the three other Spartan goals on her way to M.V.P. honors.

In the 18th minute, Anna Lavella sent a long ball through the Franklin Academy defense finding Gordon who slipped it past the Patriot keeper and made it 2-0. Gordon would hit the post three minutes later, just missing her second goal, before being stopped at point-blank range by the feet of Patriots defender Danielle Morrison in the 24th minute.

Grainda knocked in her second of the day in the 28th minute on a breakaway thanks to a perfectly weighted pass from Gordon, as Grainda chipped it around the keeper and slotted it in the net, and the Spartans took a 3-0 lead to halftime.

Grainda added two assists in the second half, as she hit a perfect cross to Anna Lavella on the doorstep in the 60th minute to go up 4-0, before she hit Kendall Miller in the 61st minute on another cross that Miller punched in off the head to make it 5-0.

The Spartans could not hold Franklin Academy off the board for the entire day, as the Patriots drew a penalty kick in the 62’ minute and freshman Kennedy Capps hammered it into the upper right corner to bring the final total to 5-1.

The Spartans finished the season 23-0-2, winning the school’s second state championship in Women’s Soccer, and their first since a 2014 victory over East Carteret 2-1 in the final.