East Hamilton and McMinn Central squared off Thursday night for the third time during the 2017 girls' soccer season- this time for the Region 4-AA crown.
The host Lady Hurricanes won 4-1 win to stay unbeaten against the Lady Chargers.
"Our girls played well," East Hamilton coach Carrie Hill said. "McMinn Central always works so hard, at times it didn't feel like we had a three-goal lead. We'd talked about just getting back to fundamentals, and we did a good job of that."
East Hamilton put its fundamentals to work from the opening whistle, taking a quick 1-0 lead on a Madeline Frank goal. From there, the Lady Hurricanes continued to build their attack with surgical passes all around the field.
With under 10 minutes to play in the first half, that skill was on full display, as Arielle Fortune cleared a ball on defense and sent a long pass ahead to speedy forward Lauren Barcelona. Barcelona then drew the defense toward her as she approached the goal and laid a short pass back to Julia Kaset for the strong finish.
The senior pair almost connected again with the same play, but Kaset's shot sailed high.
"We played a little higher to get more immediate pressure on the ball, and the girls did a great job connecting in the final third off of that," Hill said.
Barcelona continued to flash her speed in the second half, bolting ahead to catch up to a through ball from Gabby Larson and pound it into the left side of the net.
"They didn't show us anything new from the previous times we played them or anything we can't defend," McMinn Central coach Bill McConkey said. "They showed up to play and we didn't. It was probably one of our worst games in the last 10. The team was positive before the game, but we just played sloppy."
The Lady Chargers were able to prevent a shutout with Amber Scapellato's goal. A foul just outside the box gave Scapellato a free kick from close range, and she tucked the ball just under the crossbar to make it 3-1.
McMinn Central was unable to get any closer as East Hamilton's back line held strong and Barcelona added another goal.
"We've had different rotations in the back line because of injuries," Hill said. "They're starting to settle in and get comfortable and understand where each other are going to be. We're solid."
Both teams advanced to state sectionals Saturday. East Hamilton will host Stone Memorial, while McMinn Central will travel to Cumberland County.
"We still get to play on Saturday," McConkey said. "One thing we'll have to do is shore up the middle of the field. We've got to take a touch and clear the ball to get the ball out of the middle and up the field."
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com.