The postseason just got a little longer for the Lady Pioneer soccer team.
Warren County punched its ticket to the regional tournament for the fourth straight year with a 5-2 win over White County Tuesday in the District 6-AAA semifinals. The victory also improved the Lady Pioneers to 15-3 this season.
Seniors Ansley Mullican and Morgan McCormick each scored two goals and Rylee Hilliard added one of her own to help the Lady Pioneers beat the Warriorettes for the second time this season. The first came on the road Sept. 17 when Mullican scored three goals in a 6-1 romp.
Tuesday’s game was played at Warren County High School due to the Lady Pioneers having the higher seed in the tournament. Being at home didn’t seem to provide an initial boost to Warren County though.
Neither team could break through with a goal early as the Warriorettes packed in their defense in hopes of slowing down the high-powered Lady Pioneer offense. The plan worked perfectly for 20 minutes, but McCormick wasn’t going to be stopped for long.
The senior scoring machine notched her 28th goal this season when she blew past two defenders and beat the Warriorette keeper on a 1-on-1 situation to give Warren County the early lead.
White County made sure the advantage was short-lived though.
The Warriorettes used a defensive breakdown to tie the game shortly after McCormick’s goal. Warren County keeper Jessie Newby looked to have spoiled a scoring opportunity with a save and clear, but the Warriorettes got control of Newby’s kick and launched another attack.
Warren County’s defense hadn’t pushed back up the field in time and White County converted on a point-blank shot from the middle of the field that crept past Newby and made it 1-1 with 14 minutes to play in the first half.
The Warriorettes didn’t sustain the momentum though. Instead, it seemed to wake up the Lady Pioneers.
Warren County began to attack offensively over and over in the final minutes of the first half. The Lady Pioneers kept the ball on the Warriorette side and the visitor’s defense finally cracked.
Mullican was the one who would tally the go-ahead goal before halftime when she took a short kick from the right side and wrapped it around the keeper for the score.
During halftime, coach Todd Willmore saw his team get vocal in an attempt to change the effort level from the first half. The Lady Pioneers obviously weren’t happy with the 2-1 advantage and it showed.
“I felt like White County played really inspired, especially in the first half.  Our girls had a serious conversation with one another at halftime and that appeared to finally wake us up just a bit,” said Willmore. “We also missed a number of scoring opportunities, which would have put the game away much earlier.  However, to White County's credit, we were forced to play a little tougher match than we anticipated.”
The halftime conversation seemed to spark the Lady Pioneers as the team put away the game in the second half. Mullican and McCormick each scored their second goals and Hilliard tallied her third goal this season as Warren County earned a berth into the District 6-AAA finals.
Cookeville was the team waiting for the Lady Pioneers after the Lady Cavaliers defeated Rhea County 4-0 Tuesday in a contest that was tied at halftime.
The finals were played Thursday night and the result wasn’t available at press time. For full coverage of the championship and a preview of next week’s regional tournament, check Sunday’s Southern Standard.