The McMinn County girls' soccer team had a rough week earlier this season, playing six games in eight days and losing two district-deciding matches.
The Lady Cherokees rebounded in the postseason by upsetting second-seeded Walker Valley in the District 5-AAA semifinals and then shutting out Soddy-Daisy for the tournament championship.
They ended Walker Valley's season, and the win at Soddy-Daisy sent the Lady Trojans on the road to Cookeville for a region semifinal.
McMinn County will host Warren County tonight after being eliminated the last two years in region semis at Cookeville.
"We have not had success beating Cookeville at Cookeville, and going into our game with Soddy-Daisy we stressed how important it was to win that game so we could avoid that trip," McMinn assistant coach Duane Rikard said.
The Lady Cherokees aren't the area's only table-turners playing this evening.
Hixson, second-seeded in District 6-A/AA, bumped off East Ridge for that title and earned the right to host Arts & Sciences. The Lady Pioneers, meanwhile, travel to 5-A/AA winner Boyd-Buchanan.
Notre Dame, although losing the 7-A/AA championship to Chattanooga Christian last Thursday, was the No. 3 seed and eliminated second-seeded Signal Mountain a week ago. The Lady Irish will play at District 8-AAA winner Central Magnet in Murfreesboro, and CCS will be at home against Merrol Hyde Magnet.
All those games begin at 7 p.m. local time.
Baylor, which won its Division II opener Friday over Brentwood Academy, and Girls Preparatory School, which earned a first-round bye, won't play again until Saturday, and both will be in Memphis.
GPS will play at Hutchison at 3:30 EDT, and Baylor will play at defending state champion Briarcrest Christian at a time yet to be determined. A year ago, Briarcrest edged GPS 3-2 in the semifinals and then defeated Baylor 2-1 for the title.
All games tonight signal the end of the season for those who come up short. Winners advance to region championship matches on Thursday to determine which teams will host sectionals in another single-elimination round that determines state-tournament participants.
McMinn's Lady Cherokees have a point to prove.
"This group of seniors won the middle school championship and they were touted as being one of those teams that would go far. It hasn't yet worked out," said Rikard, who is filling in for Brittany Hart.
Hart gave birth to her first child the night the Lady Cherokees clinched the district title.
In addition to the Cookeville semifinals losses in 2014 and 2015, McMinn lost to Warren County in 2013 when it hosted a region semifinal.
While it has been a dozen years since the Lady Cherokees got to the state, they've used balance to get this far.
"We have a very strong defense and a couple of people up top who are strong scorers, but the thing that has really helped it all come together is the midfield helping on the attack," Rikard said. "We're playing some of our best soccer right now, and we're to the point in our season that it isn't about who's scoring the goals but about scoring goals."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.