Sidestepping a goal-saving show by Hixson keeper Sydney Rigler, Arts & Sciences moved into the Region 3-A/AA soccer championship match with a 2-1 victory Tuesday over the Lady Wildcats.
Rigler turned away at least 15 shots, and a handful were leaping, last-second flip-aways against a full-bore offensive attack.
"That goalie was unbelievable. She would make a save and it was so disheartening," CSAS coach David Poss said.
"She's a life-saver. We were without her for four games, and to have her back it was a night-and-day difference. She made saves a lot of keepers just couldn't," Hixson coach Jeff Dean said.
His young Lady Wildcats have had to recover from the loss of 12 seniors from last season, and few thought they'd make any kind of run.
"My goal was the district (6-A/AA) championship and then go from there," said Dean, whose teams have now won three consecutive district titles.
Rigler and her fullbacks were able to keep rocket-speedy CSAS forward Cydnee Stafford off the scoring list, but they didn't fare nearly as well against fullback Cyan Cox, who toed home both of the Lady Patriots' scores from beyond the arc - close to 30 yards on direct kicks.
"For Cyan to be able to put those two in, and they were dead-on, were just beautiful shots," Poss said. "Defensively she does it all year long. She's one of our all-region picks. We really focused earlier this week in practice on that actual distance. We talked about the other girls going far post and see what it opened up for her."
Cox's initial scoring kick came with 23:47 to play in the second half.
Hixson, however, responded less than four minutes later on an unassisted goal from Morgan Dupree.
Cox got her second goal at the 15:22 mark to allow CSAS to regain the lead, and she, keeper Clara Alsobrooks and the rest of the Lady Patriots defenders made it stand up.
CSAS moves on to Thursday's region final at 7 p.m. at Boyd-Buchanan.
"I think the girls really wanted that game to show what they can really do, but it we get beat 7,000 to nothing this team has gone way beyond their expectations," Poss said. "We were talking earlier about what would happen on Tuesday and if we won what would happen on Thursday and then Saturday.
"They didn't realize we'd have a Saturday (sectional) game, because we haven't had reason to talk about it the last two years."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.