Cascade breaks open tight tourney matchup

Cascade's Rebecca Rubalcaba and Community's Kristen Simmons (8) compete for ball possession during first-round play of the District 11-A/AA tournament. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

A tightly-contested match in the early going left Bedford County rivals Community and Cascade separated by a single goal at halftime until the home standing Lady Champions exploded in the second half to run away with a 7-1 victory in the first round of the District 11-A/AA tournament on a dreary Thursday.

Senior striker Ashley Bledsoe netted the first two scores for No. 3 seed Cascade (6-5) within the first 14 minutes.

Senior Amity Reed responded for No. 6 seed Community with a goal to keep the visitors within striking distance at the break.

"We had a really good heart-to-heart talk there at halftime cause it was just 2-1, and I expect a lot more than that out of these girls," Cascade coach Monica Lewis said. "They weren't playing like they needed to play. They were letting things get in their head a little bit too much. From that talk, we went back out there and played soccer."

Did they ever. Pinpoint accuracy led to a five-goal surge to put the game away for the Orange and Black.

"We played the ball, finished our passes like I told them to, were talking, actually setting up plays and making them and following through and playing like I know we can play," Lewis said.

"I expected it was going to be a tight game tonight; I figured it was going to be real close," Community coach Mark Neill said. "The first half went the way I expected the whole game to go quite honestly. In the second half, honestly, just watching the game it was hard to say where we were falling apart. They were just better-placed shots."

For the second year in a row, the Lady Champions advance to the 11-A/AA semifinals. They face Middle Tennessee Christian at Huntland High School on Tuesday night at 7.

"I really feel like if we keep playing like this, we're going to keep going," Lewis said.

The loss ends the season for Community with a final record of 2-7.

"As long as we keep doubling our wins each year, we'll do alright," Neil said. "It was a great group of girls, they've worked hard and we've gone pretty well non-stop since the first week of June when we started conditioning. So, I'm going to miss hanging out with them every afternoon."

Cascade's Emily Lewis and Community's Tori Broiles jockey for possession. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

Four Viqueens -- Reed, Aubrey Boyce, Sabrina Hargrove and Kristen Simmons -- graduate from this year's roster.

"I am very proud of the girls. We definitely made a lot of improvements over the course of the year. We did a much better job of maintaining possession, moving the ball downfield and making better passes, better movement off the ball. Even thought we gave up a lot of goals this year, our defense made a lot of improvement and did a good job," Neill said.

Laura Jett soared a shot into the back of the net for the first second-half goal for Cascade in the 46th minute. Moments after missing a point-blank shot with an open net in front of her, Mary Saylors banged in a goal off a rebound in the 56th minute. Lauren Ware reeled off a worm-burner to the far-right post to make it 5-1. Bledsoe edged Reed in a foot race to a ball near the top of the box and thinned the twine to complete her hat trick in the 67th minute. In stoppage time, Jessica Popp kicked a one-timer off an assist from Emily Lewis for the final goal.

Kayla Carden pawed away eight saves for the Lady Champs.

Freshmen Megan Sager and Megan Smith shared goalkeeper duties for the Viqueens.

Webb 3, Davidson Academy 1: In Nashville, the Lady Feet avenged a 3-1 loss to the Bears earlier in the week to extend their season with an East/Middle Region tournament win.

Katie Jones put Webb on top early with a goal in the fifth minute thanks to an assist from Karly Grissom. Neither team scored again in the first half.

Atoluwa Omitowoju took a ball from Melissa Wisniewski and deposited it into the back of the net to make it 2-0. Following a goal by DA that made it tight again, Jones came through with an insurance score off an assist from Wisniewski.

Caroline Smith tallied four saves for the Lady Feet (10-5).

Webb welcomes University School of Nashville to Bell Buckle on Monday in the tournament quarterfinals.