Ahlemeyer nets hat trick as Spain Park pulls away from Oak Mountain in top-ranked battle

Published 4:27 pm Wednesday, March 20, 2024

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HOOVER – In a clash of the two best girls soccer teams in the state of Alabama, the No. 1 Spain Park Jaguars remained undefeated and claimed a 4-1 victory over their rivals, the No. 2 Oak Mountain Eagles on Tuesday, March 19 at Spain Park High School.

The home win gives the Jags another win in area play and a statement victory in their quest for a state title.

The teams settled into the run of play for the opening 15 minutes before Spain Park broke the deadlock. Tatum Ahlemeyer found the back of the net in the 16th minute to score the opener and put the Jags up 1-0.

Nine minutes later, Oak Mountain found a response and knotted up the score. The Eagles’ Hadley Eddins continued her scoring form with a goal to tie the game at 1-1.

The teams came very close to taking that tied score line into the halftime locker room, but Ahlemeyer had other plans.

She capitalized on another chance to score in the 39th minute, and her goal with 90 seconds to go gave Spain Park a 2-1 lead going into halftime.

Sitting on a first-half brace after scoring two goals, it didn’t take the Jags’ star senior long to complete the hat trick.

Spain Park got a chance at goal shortly into the start of the second half, and Ahlemeyer converted just 20 seconds into the half to make the score 3-1.

After 15 more minutes, the Jags sealed the deal with a fourth goal. This time, Tori Flournoy entered the scoring column with a goal in the 58th minute.

From there, Spain Park saw out the final 22 minutes to earn the 4-1 win and improve to 3-0 in area play and 15-0 for the season.

The Jags are off until the end of spring break and will face Northridge at home on Tuesday, April 2 at 5:30 p.m. in their first match back.

Oak Mountain drops to 12-3-2 with its first area loss and will look for a season sweep against Chelsea on Friday, March 22 at 7 p.m. at Chelsea High School.