The Greatest Story Still Being Told: Woodruff's Lady Wolverines Soccer and Its Long Region-Title Run
Part 10 of The Woodruff Times Wolverine history series traces the girls' soccer program from its early days to a region-championship streak that began in 2004.
The Woodruff Times published Part 10 of its 12-part Wolverine history series, "The Greatest Story Still Being Told," on June 9, 2021. Here is our summary.
The story follows the Woodruff High girls' soccer program. Boys' soccer began in the mid-1990s and a girls' team followed several years later. In 2002 the school hired Coach Fernando Gomez, with Fran Thomas as assistant, and the program took off: it won its first region championship in 2004 and a second in 2005, when it reached the state semifinals and lost a back-and-forth 5-4 game to Chapin after trailing 4-0 and tying it at 4-4.
In 2007 the Lady Wolverines won the upper-state championship with a late goal against Walhalla, then lost the 2A state final 1-0 to Bishop England. They returned to the state final in 2008 and lost to Bishop England again. Over the years the team added further upper-state titles and a long run of region championships, which the Times describes as running close to two decades.
The Times credits Gomez's habit of scheduling tough non-conference opponents, such as Dorman, Spartanburg, Riverside and Eastside, for preparing the team, and notes frequent appearances in the final four of the Viking Cup. Gomez left the program in 2017, and former Woodruff player Paige Roper (Fowler) later took over as head coach. The piece also highlights strong community and school support at home matches.
Players are not named here; the full article names them and includes quotes. This is our own summary; the full reporting is at The Woodruff Times (link below).