Chapel Hill High School has announced in a big way that it’ll be a force on the 2012 Triangle soccer scene. And so has Caroline Jones.

The Tigers, ranked No. 7 in the state 3A poll, handed 4A No. 13 Jordan its first loss of the year last Tuesday with a 5-4 decision at CHHS.

"They’re a great team, a well coached team, and fast," CHHS coach Ron Benson said. "They’re faster than we are, but somehow we figured out to stay with them."

Jones, working her way back from a knee injury that made her miss most of her junior year in 2011, scored the decisive goal Tuesday, the first game-winner of her high school career.

"It’s always fun playing a really good team," Jones said, "especially if you’re playing well, too."

Jordan had won four of its previous five meetings with Chapel Hill since the Tigers left the PAC-6 Conference and had dominated them in 2-0 scrimmage on Feb. 23.

"We didn’t play well then, but we learned a lot," Benson said. "As coaches, we learned where to play people and what formations to use."

That paid off at Tiger Field on a Tuesday night cold enough to make the ball sting on contact, Jones noted.

Jordan scored just 3 minutes into the match and jumped ahead 2-0 by the 10th minute.

But the Tigers were the cats who just wouldn’t go away, matching the skilled Jordan side run-for-run, chance-for-chance and shot-for-shot the rest of the way.

"They’d score; we’d score. We’d score, they’d score," Benson said. "I’m just glad it wasn’t a longer game, because they might have come back to tie it up again."

Alex Moiseenko scored two goals, while Frances Reuland hit one goal and assisted on another, and Mia Spencer notched one goal, leaving the game tied at 4-4. Megan Dell and Stacey Cutrell both made assists.

Laura Sullivan almost put CHHS back ahead in the 77th minute, with a nice shot off a corner kick from Kimball. Despite a Jordan save, the Tigers’ defense continued to be a big factor, refusing to let the Falcons clear their zone.

In the 78th minute, Reuland and Leah Whitney got off shots inside the penalty area, both of which were blocked. Jones came sprinting forward from midfield and ran onto a loose ball, blasting it on the run, low and untouched, into the back of the net with 2:22 left in the match.

"All I was thinking was, ’I don’t want to lose. This better go in,’" Jones said.

Jordan couldn’t get the ball out of its half for the last 2:00 of the match.

Jordan bounced back two nights later to down a good Broughton team by a 3-1 score, improving to 3-1-1. Chapel Hill (2-1-0) played undefeated 1A power N.C. Science and Math on Friday night. See newsobserver.com for results.