When the Lady Bulldogs won their regular season opener against Knoxville Catholic 4-0, they could have been forgiven for thinking this would be a repeat of their past three seasons.
From 2021-2023, Bearden won three consecutive state championships, going unbeaten and allowing a total of just 13 regular season goals.
That win over the Lady Irish on Aug. 13 suggested that pattern might continue in 2024; however, the next two games – a 1-1 draw against Briarcrest Christian and a 3-0 loss against Houston – had many doubting Bearden’s chances at a fourth straight state championship.
Coach Ryan Radcliffe, who has won a total of six state championships while coaching the boys and girls soccer teams, was not one of them.
“In all honesty, I think the setbacks, the early season loss was good for us,” Coach Radcliffe said. “I think it kind of helped mold the direction for where we go the rest of the season.”
Coach Radcliffe’s mindset concerning the early struggles trickled down to the players too.
“It was a tough loss, but I think it helped our team realize that nothing is going to be handed to us and we can’t take for granted what we have had in the past,” senior captain Maci Ritzman said. “The loss grounded us and forced us to work that much harder to ensure we never felt like that again.”
Mission accomplished thus far: Bearden’s record is perfect ever since. The Lady Bulldogs host Jefferson County on Saturday in a sub-state game at 11 a.m. for a chance to head back to the state tournament.
The Bearden boys team similarly experienced early struggles in 2024, with losses to Hendersonville and McCallie in the opening matches of the regular season, and they were able to rally late in the year and win state.
“I think [the boys team was] the best team at the right time,” Coach Radcliffe said. “We’ve used the boys as a reference a lot with the girls.”
Although the boys team was a convenient example of a team overcoming losses, the girls do have a much different situation. If they win the AAA state championship this year, they would become just the fourth girls soccer program in Tennessee state history to win four straight, and the first since Baylor School did so 20 years ago.
With the championship pedigree of the senior class, the Lady Bulldogs know when to turn their performances up at the right times in order to achieve this historic feat.