Huntland's Logan McLennan passes the ball across the field during a game Tuesday against Hickman County High School. McLennan scored three goals in the 5-1 win.
Huntland's Logan McLennan passes the ball across the field during a game Tuesday against Hickman County High School. McLennan scored three goals in the 5-1 win.
The Huntland High School Lady Hornets beat the Hickman County Lady Bulldogs 5-1 at Franklin County High School Tuesday in a semifinal game for their regional tournament.
The Lady Hornets overcame a halftime deficit with a barrage of goals in the second half as they won convincingly to advance to the regional championship game.
Huntland head soccer coach Amanda Tipps said her team got off to a slow start, but it took just one good shot to get back on track.
“It seems like once we can break one (shot) through, the others just seem to fall in line,” she said. “We didn’t change anything up. We just tried to stick with what we’ve been doing all year. It was just a matter of finding the net.”
The Lady Hornets put pressure on the opposing goal throughout the first half, but they were not able to get on the board early.
The Lady Bulldogs got their lone score with about 12 minutes remaining in the first half with one of their forwards firing a long shot which found the corner of the net.
The Lady Hornets trailed 1-0 at halftime.
The Lady Hornets got an equalizer about seven minutes into the second half with Raegen Johnson taking a corner kick which glanced off the hands of Hickman County’s goalkeeper and bounced into the net. The goal was Raegen Johnson’s third of the season.
The tie lasted for just three minutes before Logan McLennan broke away from the defense after receiving a pass from Hazel Reed and fired a shot into the goal to give the Lady Hornets the lead.
Kathryn Reed added to the lead shortly afterward as she took a long shot from just outside the box which hit the left corner of the net to make it a 3-1 game with 29 minutes remaining. Kathryn Reed has seven goals on the season for the Lady Hornets.
The Lady Hornets tacked on another goal with about 12 minutes remaining as McLennan knocked the ball in off of an assist from Piper Cox to make it a 4-1 game.
McLennan would complete the hat trick as she scored once more with eight minutes remaining for her third goal of the day and her 14th of the season to put the final deficit at four.
Tipps credited her team’s resiliency in coming back from the early deficit to the veteran leadership on her roster.
“I attribute a lot of it to our senior leadership. They’ve been down before, and they just know to keep fighting,” she said.
With the win, the Lady Hornets improved to 15-1-2 on the season.
They will next play Thursday against Culleoka High School at Franklin County High School in the championship game of their regional tournament. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
