Without preseason scrimmages or playdays to get into true game shape, Thursday night’s season opener against Huntland was a bit of a dress rehearsal for the season—it’s just a dress rehearsal that happened to count.

While Cascade struck first, the Lady Hornets netted the equalizer in the second half and both teams settled for a 1-1 draw.

Emma Ward put the Lady Champs on the board in the 33rd minute after splitting through the Lady Hornet defense and scoring on a breakaway goal.

Cascade held strong on the defensive front for the remainder of the half and didn’t allow Huntland to threaten a shot on goal until halftime.

But Huntland eventually came up with a solid offensive play in the 50th minute to knot the game at one goal apiece.

“Our girls are not quite in the condition we need to be in. We lost some stamina and a lot of possession because of it. That first half was great. They didn’t even get in our final third. On their goal, we backed off a bit and they played a great ball to get it,” Lady Champ coach Zack Spears said.

Even with the strike in the second half, Spears was pleased with how his rebuilding defense looked in the season opener.

“Our defense looked really good. Really, we looked good overall, especially for our first game,” he said.

Cascade is in a bit of a rebuild after losing senior leadership that led the Lady Champs to two-straight state sectional appearances, and another key player who transferred.

Even with those losses, Cascade returns young talent that is primed to step into the leadership roles to help maintain the Lady Champs’ status as one of the top Class A teams in the state.

“Our core girls are juniors this year. We still have some girls to build around. Even with the seniors we lost, we lost another due to a transfer. Having to replace them is a huge deal. We picked up a bunch of good freshmen and our upperclassmen are stepping up,” he said.

Spears is notably excited about the talent his freshman class can bring to the field.

During the opener on Thursday, Cascade experimented with different lineup combinations on the front line.

“I’m excited about what they can do. We have all freshman—the outside midfielders and the forwards are all freshmen. There’s a lot of youth and with youth comes the good and the bad. There’s some inexperience and you could see the nerves today,” he said.

Even with the inexperience, once the pieces all click, Spears feels the team can continue to be a postseason threat, should the season be allowed to play in its entirety.

“Provided we get a whole season, I think we can go to the places we’ve already been. We’ve got such good talent coming up, it’s just going to take us to find our groove. We have all the promise, we just haven’t found how to put it together yet. It’s just what falls into place for us,” he said.

Cascade will be back on its home field on Monday and host cross-county rival Community at 5 p.m.

Huntland 0 1 — 1

Cascade 1 0 — 1

First Half

C — Caroline Ward goal, (33rd minute).

Second Half

H — goal, (50th minute).