NASHVILLE The White House Heritage girls soccer team knew its back was against the wall coming into the Region 5-AA semifinal.
Alex Green hits a header Tuesday night against Lipscomb.
The Lady Patriots had to travel to District 10-AA champions Lipscomb, but they overcame all the odds and handed the Lady Mustangs the 2-1 loss.
“We have 6-of-our-11 starters that are either in the eighth grade or freshmen,” Heritage coach Rett Roach said. “Lipscomb doesn’t have that same make up and they play a physical game, but our girls just never gave up and we were able to pull out the win.”
Heritage will now advance to the Region 5-AA finals for a rematch against White House.
The winner will host the sectional game Saturday and the loser will be on the road, but both will have an opportunity to make it to the state tournament.
Here are the five things that led to Tuesday nights’ victory over Lipscomb.
1 – The Heritage soccer team might have been young and inexperienced to start the season, but they grew up Tuesday night. The six eighth graders and freshmen that start for the Lady Patriots didn’t play like that Tuesday night, they took the best that Lipscomb could throw at them and pulled out of the victory.
2 – Freshman Alex Green controlled the front in her striker position. Green scored the first goal and was right beside the goalkeeper on the on-goal that won the game.
3 – Junior Callie Jo Roach provides experience on the front line. Roach has started for the past three years and the offense runs through her. She also throws the ball in on out-of-bounds play and takes the corner kicks.
4 – Heritage showed its resilience Tuesday night. The Lady Patriots trailed most of the game before tying the game in the second half with just over 23 minutes remaining in regulation.
5 – The Lady Patriots team was reenergized after the first goal according to Roach. “Lipscomb controlled the first half, but we challenged them at halftime and we played better. It wasn’t until we got the score that we saw the team we really wanted to see, that goal couldn’t have come at a better time.”