White House stays home for sectional tilt - Lady Devils defeat White House Heritage for third time this season to capture region title

White House junior Hannah Cook dribbles near midfield during second-half action.

WHITE HOUSE Last season, White House’s girls soccer team saw its season ended in penalty kicks in a loss to Page in the sectional round.

The Lady Devils will get an opportunity to avenge that loss on Saturday after White House defeated visiting White House Heritage 7-4 in the Region 5 A-AA Tournament championship match on Thursday evening.

White House (17-5) hosts a sectional match for the third time in four years and seeks to return to the state tournament for the first time since 2012. The Lady Devils defeated Page in that season to advance before falling in the semifinals to Christian Academy of Knoxville.

“We’re excited to be one of the 16 teams left (in Class A-AA) and playing on Saturday,” Felzien said. “We’re excited about hosting and about the rematch with Page. We’re going to have to come out and have our best game of the season.”

Leanna Nesbitt scored a natural hat trick, netting three consecutive goals in the first half to open the scoring. Madisson Davis scored twice in the first half and Baylee Miller gave the Lady Devils a 6-0 halftime lead.

“We were satisfied,” White House head coach Mike Felzien said. “We came out strong, came out hard and even though (White House Heritage’s defense) packed it back for the first little while until we scored a couple of goals, once they spread it out a bit, we took advantage of it.”

Lacey Cook had the other White House goal before most of the starters departed to give substitutes expanded playing time.

White House sophomore Shelby Deering plays the ball downfield as White House Heritage’s Callie Jo Roach defends during second-half action.

With nearly all of the starters on the bench, White House Heritage (12-9) rallied for four consecutive goals – two from Callie Jo Roach, one each from Bekah Lamberth and Alex Green.

“You look at the fragility of a high school girl’s mind and you think to yourself ‘this second half could go way, way, way out of hand,” White House Heritage head coach Rett Roach said. “But credit to them. I told them at halftime that there’s two ways they could go – they could go out there and fold and waste 40 minutes of soccer, or they could go out and compete. And they chose to compete.”

It was the Lady Devils’ third victory this season over White House Heritage.

White House will host Page at 4 p.m. Saturday.

White House Heritage will visit Region 6 A-AA champion Christ Presbyterian Academy on Saturday, seeking to avenge last season’s 2-1 loss to CPA in the sectional round.

Reach Chris Brooks at cbrooks@tennessean.com or at 615-575-7118. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @CB_SumnerSports, and on Snapchat @cbrooksgne.