Walton headed to state title game with 3-1 win over Lambert

Daminon Lewis
May 9
2 min read

Walton takes on Lambert in the GHSA Class 6A semifinals

The Walton Raiders girls soccer team opened up the 2024-2025 season with one goal in mind, which has been to reach the Georgia High School Association state title game, which they last did in the 2022-2023 season, however fell short, losing to Denmark in penalty kicks.

Determined to stay on course, the Raiders took just less than five minutes to score Reagan Mulberry would give them an early 1-0 lead over the Longhorns, who struggled to equalize as the Walton defense held strong throughout the night.

And while the Raiders themselves would not score again until the second half, their aggressiveness offensively would finally break through with two more goals courtesy of Brooklyn Mulberry and captain Haidyn Jenkins as they took a 3-0 lead. The Longhorns would eventually score as a header by Maggie Esz would cut the Raiders lead, with Lambert trailing 3-1 with 15:30 remaining in the match. However Walton would maintain that lead in route to the victory.

"This is phenomenal for the girls and I really have to give a shout out to the administration, the community, our athletic director, the players that we have had the past four years, all of them have done a fantastic job supporting this team. The leadership has done a phenomenal job," Walton head coach, Jason Page said after Thursday's win.

As for the leadership, Walton captains, Brooke Merlin, Haley Schutz, Lila Jaillet, along with Jenkins all credited the early Mulberry goal allowed the Raiders to set the tone for the match. "I think the early goal with all the passing prepared us to get ahead and calm down just get our pace set," Jenkins said. "That's just essential," Schutz added.

The Raiders will now turn their attention to preparing for the Buford Wolves, who eliminated Walton in the semifinals of last season tournament. "This is our revenge year," the captains said in agreeance of the opportunity to face the Wolves for the 6A title next week. "We're really a family and if we play as the family we are, we can win,".