Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The Cookeville Lady Cavs scored an early goal to take a 1-0 lead on Thursday, but it wouldn’t be enough in a 3-1 defeat against Mt. Juliet in the District 3AAA Championship.
Mt. Juliet tied the game up less than a minute after Cookeville’s opening score, and then took the lead at the 32:12 mark. The Lady Bears tacked on their third goal at the 20:33 mark to take a two-score lead.
The Lady Cavs found themselves in their own zone for a majority of the first half, as head coach Lauren Metts says she saw a drop in energy once Mt. Juliet answered their goal as quickly as they did.
“We said we wanted to get up early, and I’m so proud of them,” Metts said. “(They got) a PK a minute later to kill the momentum, and that’s something we have no control over. You just have to roll with the punches…against a team like this, (finding momentum) is hard because they’re so good.”
While neither team found the back of the net in the second half, it appeared that what Metts said at halftime worked because Cookeville controlled possession time more and created more scoring opportunities.
Metts says she was pleased with how her team came out despite trailing at half.
“Right after they got up 3-1, we kind of fell on heels and started chasing,” Metts said. “We said ‘we saw what we could do in the first five minutes, you owe it to yourselves and each other to continue that in the second half…’I hope they realize it was a 0-0 game, but we created more chances.”
As far as the team’s attitude heading into their region semifinal, it’s pretty simple.
“Give it all you got,” Metts said.
