Emily Clark of Grace, left, and Emiley Saddler of East Hamilton fight for possession of the ball Tuesday during the second half of their Region 3-A/AA soccer semifinal at East Hamilton High School.Had it been a football game, Soddy-Daisy coach Moises Drumond could be pleased by his team defense in a 7-3 final score. In a soccer match, though, he was anything but -- and he knows this probably was the last time this season the Lady Trojans can afford to play the way they did Tuesday.
After the four-goal victory over Coffee County in the Region 3-AAA semifinals, the Lady Trojans (16-2-3) will play Thursday at Warren County (15-6-1), which defeated Ooltewah 5-1, for the region championship. The finalists tied 5-all at Warren County late in the regular season.
"We have to stay organized as a group," Drumond said. "It wasn't just the defenders; it was everybody."
Offensively, Summer Lanter had three goals and an assist. Miranda Smith added two goals and an assist, while Kaley Henry netted her first goal of the season for all of the first-half scoring.
Natalie Smith finished with three assists but agreed that some things will have to change if the team wants to progress toward its goal of a state championship.
"We had some lucky bounces," she said. "Our passing wasn't what it was against Ooltewah [in the district tournament final]. We were a little nervous in the first half of the first half, and it took halftime to fix, but I think we came out and played better in the second half."
Megan Weller wasted no time adding to the six-goal advantage with a goal in the 45th minute, but the Lady Raiders (14-6-1) avoided the shutout as Katie Reed had two goals and an assist to Sarah Monroe in the final 22 minutes.
"Our shape wasn't good tonight," Drumond said. "We finished some chances we had, but we were not organized. We have to fix that by Thursday, and the girls know that."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.