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SUMNER

White House marches on

Brian Burton
For Sumner County Publications

WHITE HOUSE – The White House High girls soccer team seems to be more dangerous than when its backs are against the wall.

For the second consecutive match, the Lady Devils overcame an early deficit to post a 3-1 win over visiting Martin Luther King Magnet on Tuesday evening.

With the victory, White House – the defending Region 5 A-AA Tournament champion – advanced to Thursday evening’s Region 5 A-AA Tournament championship match and will also earn a spot in one of eight Class A-AA sectional matches for the third consecutive season.

White House, returning to its home turf after winning the District 9 A-AA Tournament at Kingston Springs Elementary School, felt pressure early as the Lady Royals immediately went to an aggressive, offensive mode after the first touch.

MLK senior Danielle Konan and freshman defender Jassmine Watts found success driving the ball on the left side to favor Konan’s powerful left foot, but is was actually on the right side of the field where MLK drew first blood.

Less than five minutes into the match, Lady Royal senior Molly Kafader corralled a loose ball in the right corner and sent it into the box. White House senior goalkeeper Jocelyn Humphries dove out to get it, but the pass bent to the top of the box and out of her reach. That left an open net for MLK junior forward Mary Grace Dolan, who was able to convert.

MLK (11-7-2) continued playing pressure offense and White House found themselves struggling to get any offense going, just missing on a breakaway by freshman forward Addison Gross and an 18 yard laser from Konan.

The Lady Devils fought back, finding and exploiting the middle of the Lady Royal defense and forcing their offensive players to the center of the field into traffic.

“They had several good players, but once we marked them and brought them to their weak foot, they weren’t much of a threat anymore,” White House senior forward Kayla Norman said. “And then we tried to play the outsides where their weaker players were, but it ended up being in the middle that was the best.”

The Lady Royals continued their attack, pulling the defense forward. It would prove costly.

With 13:22 left in the first half, White House senior midfielder Aubree Miller outdueled an MLK midfielder for a 50-50 ball and sent a long pass into the no-man’s land between the defenders and the keeper. Norman outraced the defense to the loose ball and unleashed a rocket into the lower right part of the net.

MLK responded seconds later when Kafader found herself with the ball in the White House box and only Humphries between herself and the lead, but her shot to the right corner was stopped by a diving Humphries.

Then, with less than three minutes remaining in the half, Humphries stopped a MLK header on a corner kick from point-blank range.

MLK had two more chances on breakaways in the half, but both were saved by a senior defender Jordan Nixon, who twice raced in to disrupt the Lady Royal assault and preserve the 1-1 tie.

“She’s been doing that all year,” Lady Devil head coach Mike Felzien said of Nixon. “We have come to expect that from her. She’s a tough player, and 99.9 percent of the time, they are good solid tackles.”

Tied 1-1 at the half, Coach Felzien decided to change strategy in an effort to take control of the match.

“We knew they were pretty good,” White House senior forward Kylee Miller said. “They had some great players. We kind of adjusted and came out with the win.”

White House (15-4) changed to a 3-5-2 configuration that served the team well in the district tournament and began to dominate possession of the ball while applying pressure to the Lady Royal defense.

“We had to adjust a little bit to what they were doing,” Felzien said. “One of the things was if we could push up and keep them defensively oriented, that’s what we needed to do. As long as we could keep pressure on, they would have to keep dropping people back, and so that was the key we were trying to do, to have that lone forward up there.”

White House continued to press the attack when freshman forward Madisson Davis sent a long pass to deep into Lady Royal territory. Norman outraced the lone defender and put a shot just out of the reach of MLK goalkeeper Reilly Gwinn for the 2-1 lead.

That was Norman’s 36th goal of the season.

Then, Davis added an insurance goal with two minutes remaining.

After chasing down another long clear from Nixon, Davis split defenders Chyna Germany and Sofia Carter and reached the ball seconds before a charging Gwinn could stop her, creating the two-goal margin.

White House was slated to face Hume-Fogg – the District 10 A-AA Tournament champion and a 2-0 winner over visiting White House Heritage in Tuesday evening’s other Region 5 A-AA Tournament semifinal – in Thursday evening’s championship match at West End Middle School. Regional champions host Saturday’s sectional matches, while regional runner-up teams are forced to travel for their sectional contests.

“(I’m) very proud,” Felzien – whose squad has won six consecutive matches – said. “You know, giving up that early goal is tough to come back from at this level to tie it up. In the second half, I think they controlled the match and netted two goals for us and propelled us into essentially the sectional match on Saturday.”

Norman added, “Oh yeah, we are so excited.”