Photo/Pam Jacobs Senior Jose Garcia boots the ball away as the Providence defender tries to stop him during last week's Sweet Sixteen tournament.

The Tiger soccer team lost 5-0 to No. 7 ranked Providence Christian Academy on Tuesday at Tiger Stadium in Dawsonville. The Stars defense limited Dawson County to only three shots on goal shutting out the Tigers.

Head coach Jed Lacey's team finished the season with a 10-10 record overall. The 10 wins are the most by any Dawson County team in school history.

Providence, which finished as state runner-up last year in Class AA/A, took another step in reaching the title game. The Stars defeated Brookstone from Columbus 2-1 on Friday to get to the final four. They played No. 1 ranked Walker yesterday. The winner will have a chance for a state championship.

The Stars are currently 10-8-1 on the season.

Early on the game was at a standstill, as neither team could break through each other's defense. "We were trying to shut down their offense by marking their two best players close," said Lacey.

Providence finally got on the scoreboard when Jonny Mercado dribbled his way in from the right side of the box and fed Erik Terry in the middle for a blast by goalie Dane Trosterud. The Stars held a slim 1-0 lead with 10:19 gone in the first half.

Just 49 seconds later, Providence scored again. Stars player Jon Demonbreun received a loose ball outside the box and nailed a shot past Trosterud to make the score 2-0.

"We were playing pretty well until they scored those two quick goals. Our kids just kind of came unglued after that point," said Lacey on the two quick goals.

The Tigers tried to regroup at halftime, down 2-0. "I told them to keep marking them close and good things will happen for us," said Lacey.

The game got away from Dawson early in the second half. With just 6-minutes gone, Providence player Garrett Stryszko got off a hard shot that Trosterud caught but couldn't hang on to, as the ball came loose and trickled over the line for a 3-0 lead.

"Our guys were still playing hard, but they (Providence) are a great team," remarked Lacey. "They kept playing their game and we were so far behind it opened up holes in our defense."

The Stars went up 4-0 when Terry hit a volley into the back of the net with only 16:57 remaining. Richard Shrewsbury finished the scoring for Providence with a shot at the 10:53 mark to make the final 5-0.

"I am so proud of our players. We had a great year and our program is turning the corner," remarked Lacey. "I would like to thank the support we received from our parents and the community. I would also like to thank the students who attended the game and yelled for our guys. We have a lot of work to do before next year's season, but we will continue to get better."

Lacey will lose eight seniors from this year's playoff squad. Playing in their final game as a Tiger were: Ben Pruitt, Chris Keating, Buddy Graves, Jose Garcia, Michael Williams, Daniel Simmons, Cole Coffer and Matt Gilleland.

"It will be tough to replace these guys. They have improved so much during the season. We are very fortunate to have such good leadership from these guys. They have started something very special for the Tiger soccer program," said Lacey of his seniors.

Next year the team will count on the play of several of the underclassman. Juniors Seth Stowers, Trosterud, Jacob Perry, David Scully, Jerry Yarbrough, Kasey Hensley and Josh Bolz will be the nucleus for Dawson County.

Also returning will be sophomore Alex Cote and freshmen Ethan Brown and Mauricio Escobar.

Originally published Wednesday, May 7, 2008