A battle between the top two soccer teams in District 6-AAA needed overtime to decide a winner and sudden death proved to be especially painful for the Lady Pioneers.
A controversial handball penalty proved to be the difference as the Cookeville Lady Cavaliers defeated the Warren County High School soccer team 2-1 with the winning goal coming on a penalty kick in overtime.
The Lady Pioneers, who fell to 6-3, were devastated following the game as the loss was a harsh reminder of last year’s District 6-AAA tournament championship game when the Lady Cavaliers upset Warren County on its home field by the same score.
Coach Todd Willmore was disappointed with the final result, but knows the season isn’t over following the loss.
“I thought for the most part, we outplayed them,” said Willmore. “They did enough to win in the end, but I told the girls the season isn’t ruined because of one loss.
“We have to take care of business and if we can beat them at home, it will put us back in the driver’s seat in the district.”
Cookeville and Warren County battled into extra time, with neither team willing to give an inch. The game changed when a Lady Cavalier player lofted a shot into the box, where Warren County defender Rayah Kirby and keeper Lyndi Dodd awaited the ball.
On its way down, the ball grazed Kirby on the arm and the referee called a hand ball on the Lady Pioneers. The call gave Cookeville a penalty kick and from a short distance, Dodd was unable to stop the shot as Sarah Nisbet found the corner of the net for the game winner.
Coach Willmore thought the call was technically correct, but the contact with Kirby’s arm was purely incidental.
“By the letter of the law, the play was technically a hand ball,” said Willmore. “It didn’t give either team an advantage though and I hated to see the game change on such an inadvertent play.”
The game went into overtime tied 1-1 as neither team scored in the second half. The Lady Pioneers took an early lead when Kimberly Warden got a great birthday present when she received a perfect pass from Ansley Mullican off a corner kick.
Warden, who celebrated her 18th birthday Thursday, was in the right place at the right time as the Lady Pioneers executed the corner kick to perfection to take a 1-0 lead.
Warren County controlled most of the first half, but Cookeville flipped the field just before halftime and it resulted in a tie game.
The Lady Cavaliers got a rare clean look against the Lady Pioneer defense from 20 yards out and Dodd wasn’t able to get a hand on a hard shot that found the back of the net.
The Lady Pioneers had several chances to win in regulation as freshman Livia Walker nearly had two shots end the game.
Walker hit the post with a shot near the end of regulation, but the ball bounced straight down and was saved before another Lady Pioneer could run in and score. Walker also had two crosses in overtime go near the net that were snared by the Cookeville keeper.
The loss drops Warren County to 2-1 in District 6-AAA play. The Lady Pioneers will look to get back to their winning ways tomorrow when the team travels to White County.
The game, which was originally scheduled to be played in Warren County, will begin at 6 p.m.  The Warriorettes will make the return trip to Warren County Sept. 20.