CLEVELAND, Tenn. – With a two-goal advantage at halftime Tuesday, Cleveland High School girls’ soccer coach Andy Byrd encouraged his team to win the first 10 minutes of the second half of its District 5-AAA semifinal against McMinn County.
The Lady Raiders might not have done that, but their play in the other 70 minutes more than made up for it.
Kaitlyn Poulakis’ and Bayleigh Ellis’ first-half goals stood, as Cleveland advanced to the final with a 2-0 victory over McMinn County. This is the second straight year that the Lady Raiders have ended McMinn’s season and the fifth consecutive year they’ve claimed a postseason victory over the Lady Cherokees.
Cleveland will travel to third-ranked Soddy-Daisy (17-0-2), a 3-0 winner over Ooltewah, for Thursday’s final. Both teams qualify for the Region 3-AAA tournament. Soddy-Daisy won the first matchup 1-0.
Cleveland is 7-1-1 in its last nine games, with the lone loss coming to 11th-ranked Siegel.