Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The Cookeville Lady Cavs eked out a close win on Thursday, taking down Livingston Academy 2-1 at home in non-district action.
After LA struck first less than a minute into the game to take a 1-0 lead, Cookeville answered back at the 10:02 mark with a goal off the foot of Piper Tadlock to tie the game.
A little over three minutes later, Grace Smith found the back of the net to give the Lady Cavs a 2-1 lead that they would hold on to for the remainder of the game.
In the closing minutes of the game, Livingston had a pair of golden opportunities to knot the game and force overtime, but CHS quickly smothered both attempts to seal the win for head coach Lauren Metts’ squad.
“We got scored on in the first 20 seconds of the game after a miscommunication in the back,” Metts said. “We’re still trying to figure that out, so besides that moment, I was proud of the girls. They stepped up and owned it and gave it 100%, and I think the scoreboard reflects that.”
This is the first loss for the Lady Wildcats, something Metts was aware of coming in. She was very complimentary of Livingston following the win.
“They’ve got some great players that can score,” Metts said. “I’m very proud of our girls, they were in it tonight. Their heads were in it.”
As far as what she wants her team to do better, Metts points out that this is the point in the season where the focus shifts to primarily district matches.
“This was our last non-district game, so everything from here on out matters,” Metts said. “This was a hard-fought battle…I want to build on being successful. Whatever a team brings to us, we want to focus on playing our game.”
Cookeville will take on LaVergne on Monday night, while the Lady Wildcats will face Stone Memorial on Tuesday.
