WEST MOBILE – The Fairhope Pirates punched their third-straight ticket to the Rocket City with a 4-1 second-round win over Murphy Saturday at Baker High School.

The 18-5-2 defending 6A state champions had no intention of missing another trip to Huntsville said head coach Paul Stroud.

"The challenges that have faced this team have been more daunting than any team we've had in five years," he said. "It's a testimony to the leadership of my seniors. Those seniors have refused to let circumstances determine their fate. When we went up there (Huntsville) last year, we didn't give up a goal and scored three and won it. Now, this is not the same team, but there's no guarantee that we'll see the same teams either. The bottom line is there's 60 schools that play 6A soccer in this state, and there's four left, and we're one of them."

The Pirates lost key starters to graduation after winning the 6A state title and got off to a shaky start with two section losses before winning the next eight, their fifth-straight section title and now two post-season rounds.

"I'm just so proud of these boys," Stroud said. "I just can't say."

The score was a 1-1 stalemate at the half, with goals coming first from Fairhope's Mike Keyser off an assist from Patrick Marsh two minutes in and an equalizer from Murphy's talented forward Atem Kuto six minutes later.

Fairhope emerged refocused scoring three unanswered second-half goals starting with Riley Tart off another Marsh assist five minutes in. Ben Studstill scored off a ball sent by Isaac Landa 10 minutes later and Tart scored his second goal with about 16 minutes left in the match off a Brandon Landau pass.

"In the first half, we were very impatient," Stroud said. "We wanted to go, we wanted to go, we wanted to go. At halftime, we talked about slowing the game down. Let's play simple possession, simple balls. And pretty soon, Brandon and Chad (Dolan) started to connect. It was our game after that."

Between the third and fourth Fairhope goals, tensions flaired resulting in an ejection of the Panthers' Austin Maynard and Murphy played the last 20 minutes a man down.

Fairhope will play Hoover in the semi-finals on Friday.

Daphne Lady Trojans advance to Final Four

DAPHNE – The Lady Trojans will pack their bags for Huntsville this week after winning the quarter-final match 2-0 over McGill-Toolen Catholic at Jubilee Stadium Saturday.

Emily Baggett scored on a penalty kick in the first half and Chanel Elgin added a header off an assist from Baggett in the second. Sam Beacham got her 13th shutout in goal for the 23-1 Lady Trojans who won their 19th straight match to advance to the 6A final four state tournament in Huntsville this weekend.

DHS head coach Rick Andrew was pleased with the win but from experience knew the Yellow Jackets' ability to sting at the last minute all to well. "They have stood between us and Huntsville the last three years," he said. "This year, I'm just so proud of the girls - especially the seniors — for refusing to be knocked out of it. They knew this was it. We lose we stay home, again. I told them we have to win 50-50 balls and they came out and played a great game. They were physical. They won those 50-50 balls. But you have to commend their (McGill-Toolen) girls. They fought. They never quit. For me it was never in the bag for us. I was worried until the horn."

Andrew said his freshman keeper has been a key to the 19 straight wins.

"Sam has done a fantastic job for us. She had only about four JV games under her belt before being thrown into the starting varsity, but she has really grown up into the job. She reads the ball well, has a nice foot. She's very natural back there. She just needs to keep working hard to get better."

Daphne will play Spain Park at 5 p.m. on Friday.

Spanish Fort’s Lady Toros beat St. Paul’s, advance

Spanish Fort’s Lady Toros defeated St. Paul’s 1-0 on Saturday and advanced to the 5A girls Final Four in Huntsville.

Brittany Haub scored for Spanish Fort in the first five minutes of the game. Alicia Linder passed to Elissa Vandewaa who crossed the ball to Haub.

The Lady Toros (17-5) will face Arab on Friday at 1 p.m.