A high five for the Lady Devils

KINGSTON SPRINGS – The White House High School girls soccer team has made a habit of late-game heroics as of late.

On Saturday afternoon, it came via the foot of senior forward Kylee Miller as the Lady Devils claimed the District 9 A-AA Tournament championship with a 2-1 victory over White House Heritage on Saturday afternoon at Kingston Springs Elementary School.

“That’s how we roll,” White House senior goalkeeper Jocelyn Humphries said. “We like to make it dramatic. The crowd likes it, and we know we can pull it out at the end.”

White House, the No. 1 seed in the District 9 A-AA North Division, claimed a 3-2 victory over Forrest on Thursday to propel the Lady Devils into the title match. White House Heritage – the No. 2 seed from 9 A-AA North Division – upset Harpeth, winning 2-1. Harpeth was the No. 1 seed from the 9 A-AA South Division.

White House captured a 6-0 victory on the Lady Patriots’ home field on Sept. 23.

With the championship match delayed until Saturday afternoon by heavy rains, the Harpeth High field provided a soggy and slick surface that favored the Lady Patriots’ direct-attack offense, while at the same time creating difficulties for the White House ball-possession attack.

The Lady Devils opened the match aggressively, moving the ball from the outside in.

The Lady Patriots countered with through balls in an effort to set up breakaways for junior forward Faith Williamson.

Both teams struggled to put shots on net, resulting in only a handful of shots on goal by either team in the first half.

The physical nature of both teams set up numerous free kicks, but, as with the majority of attempts in the first half, most were off target.

With 16:13 left in the first half, a hard tackle by White House’s senior defenseman Jordan Nixon on White House Heritage junior Shelby Bobot gave Callie Jo Roach a direct kick. However, Roach’s shot was denied in front of the far corner by a leaping Humphries.

Controversy erupted as time expired in the first half as a streaking Williamson outran the Lady Devil defense to a through ball down the middle of the field and was tripped up by Nixon.

While Lady Patriot head coach Rett Roach petitioned for a penalty kick, the referee awarded a direct kick, which was placed well over the crossbar by Heritage junior Audra Roach.

“We are so used to playing each other, so I thought it was a well-played match,” White House head coach Mike Felzien said. “They gave us everything we had. We had more shots on them in the first half, but you know they played tough. They controlled a lot of the midfield.”

White House Heritage began the second half aggressively, controlling the middle and pressing the offense as deteriorating field conditions disrupted the Lady Devils’ precision passing game and caused passes to bog down or miss their mark.

“I think we did pretty well,” White House senior forward Kayla Norman – the 9 A-AA Most Valuable Player – said. “The conditions of the field played a factor in it, but all in all I think we did pretty great as a team.”

Four minutes into the second half and with the ball deep in the Lady Devil end, White House Heritage sophomore midfielder Hannah Hale inbounded to Callie Jo Roach, who made a move to free herself from a defender and make a pass to Audra Roach just inside the right side of the White House box. Roach took one step and bent a shot into the top, left corner of the goal, just past the outstretched hand of Humphries.

Minutes later, White House narrowly avoided a two-goal deficit as Callie Jo Roach’s direct kick from 20 yards out was corralled by junior midfielder Meagan Smith, whose open shot sailed just over the crossbar.

With White House Heritage continuing to press with the lead, Felzien made an offensive adjustment, moving an extra attacker forward and going with only two defenders. The effects were immediate as the Lady Devils began to move the ball effectively.

“(We) weren’t generating anything, so I went with a 3-5-2 so to speak with a concentration up top,” Felzien said. “When we did that, we netted the tie game.”

With 10:32 left in the match and down a goal, Lady Devil senior midfielder Aubree Miller dribbled through the Lady Patriot defense and found Norman inside the box. Norman spun left, breaking away from the Heritage defender and laced a low line drive into the bottom left corner of the net.

Felzien, refused to return to his defensive set, staying with the attacking lineup.

His strategy paid off as Norman, working the left side of the field, collected a loose ball and sent a pass through the box to a streaking Kylee Miller.

“(We) decided to go for the win and keep it like that, and it happened that we were able to generate one more goal off of that lineup,” said Felzien.

Kylee Miller’s shot brushed the bottom of the crossbar, just beyond White House Heritage freshman goalkeeper Addison Holmes with 3:20 left in the match. That was the difference.

It was the fifth consecutive victory for White House, which improved to 14-4.

The Lady Patriots fell to 11-7-2.

The cross-town rivals played in the District 9 A-AA Tournament and Region 5 A-AA Tournament championship matches last season, with the Lady Devils winning both contests.

The Lady Devils have won all 12 meetings against White House Heritage, by a combined margin of 64-6. Saturday’s match was the closest of those 12 contests between the two programs.

White House reached the district championship match for the sixth consecutive season and won its fifth straight district tournament title.

“We played well enough to win, and that’s all that matters … and we get to host on Tuesday,” Felzien said. “It means a lot to these girls to win, to win from behind and to win such an important match. Hopefully, we can just build on this and get ready for Tuesday.”

Norman added, “We definitely get the vibe of having our own field. The field is going to be in pretty good shape to play on, and we just get all of fans there.”

White House is slated to host Martin Luther King Magnet on Tuesday evening at 6:30 in a Region 5 A-AA Tournament semifinal contest. MLK suffered a 2-1 loss to Hume-Fogg in last week’s District 10 A-AA Tournament championship match.