Lady Hurricanes advance with 1-0 win

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Both the East Hamiton and Walker Valley girls' soccer teams came out with nerves in the first half of their District 5-AAA semifinal match Monday.

The visiting Lady Hurricanes worked through theirs a little better.

Lauren Barcelona's goal midway through the second half gave East Hamilton a hard-fought 1-0 win over the Lady Mustangs and a spot in Thursday's championship match against McMinn County.

East Hamilton changed to a more direct attack in the second half, adjusting to the defensive pressure that Walker Valley had applied.

"We tried to apply high pressure on them to see what opened up. It was an adjustment that worked out well for us," East Hamilton coach Carrie Hill said.

After an even first half of action, the Lady Hurricanes (11-3-2) fired eight shots on goal in the final 40 minutes, but it was Barcelona's breakaway off a lead pass that provided the only score. Their attack also led to opportunities by Arielle Fortune and Nicole Ford, but Walker Valley goalkeeper Abbey Sanders had a solid match with 10 saves.

The Lady Mustangs (12-3-3), who won 12 matches in the four seasons before Nathan Brown's arrival as head coach in 2013, had the program's most successful season and will return players who accounted for 98.5 percent of their goals and 88.2 percent of their assists next season.

They struggled Monday, however, with only three shots on goal.

"East Hamilton is a good team. You have to give them credit; they have a lot of good players," Brown said. "Even so, that match was there for the taking, but our offense wasn't clicking and they punished us for our errors.

"I'm proud of this team. From where we came from to the semifinals of the district tournament, you can see the progression going forward."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.

Upcoming Events