The Lady Pioneers turned things around on Stone Memorial on Tuesday night as they won 1-0 to advance to the district soccer championship game Thursday. The two previous years, Stone Mountain went on to play in the district finals.
Alas, Warren County fell to its host, the Cookeville Lady Cavs, 6-0. It’s not over yet though. The Lady Pioneers now advance to regional tournament play.
“I was pleased with our overall effort during last night’s district championship,” said Warren County soccer coach Todd Wilmore. “Unfortunately, the outcome was not what we expected. We did an excellent job during the first 20 to 25 minutes of the match and had several scoring opportunities. However, we had a couple breakdowns and they capitalized.”
The match was fairly even through the first 20 minutes and scoreless, but Cookeville really put on the press and took advantage of every opportunity, scoring three goals before the half.
“I felt like two of the three goals they scored in the final 15 minutes of the first half could have been prevented. We were just unable to make the plays” said Wilmore. “The third goal was tough to overcome. They scored on a free kick with 22 seconds to play in the half.”
A plaque was presented to the team postgame and district awards announced were Natalie Reed and Abby Roller – first team all district, Bethany Porter and Emma Mullican – second team all district, and Sally Willmore received co-midfield MVP district award.
“The beauty of the situation is we are still alive and play in the region Tuesday against McMinn County,” said Willmore. “We played them three years ago in the same scenario and they were heavily favored. We beat them on a corner kick in the last minute of the fourth overtime, 1-0. Hopefully, we can have similar luck on Tuesday.”