Lady Wildcats tripped up in district finals

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Tullahoma High School girls’ soccer team lost in the district Championship game to Franklin County on penalty kicks 0-0 (4-3).

The two teams held each other scoreless through 100 minutes of play. With the teams tied at the end of regulation, they played two 10-minute halves for Overtime. Since they remained tied at the end of Overtime, the game had to be decided by a penalty kick shootout.

During regulation Tullahoma’s defense and goalkeeper Claire Fogarty made some terrific plays to keep the Rebelettes scoreless. Fogarty recovered on a play with about 13 minutes left in the first half to grab the ball on a diving attempt before Franklin County could take a shot. She made another spectacular play to keep the game tied in the 32nd minute of the second half. The Rebelettes had a direct kick heading straight for the corner of the net, but Fogarty was able to get a hand on the ball and knock it over the goal.

During the first overtime period with 4:36 left there was a long period where the game was stopped. There was a collision between Brindley Duncan and the Franklin County goalkeeper that resulted in Duncan being hurt. The Tullahoma fans in attendance were unhappy with Duncan being carded for the incident. The head referee initially ejected a single fan in the Tullahoma section, but then he decided that most of the Tullahoma fans in that section need to be ejected. The fans were escorted out by Franklin County’s Athletics Director Kelly Kennedy, the police officer on duty and someone from Tullahoma’s side who was trying to smooth things over. With the TSSAA’s new rule this year there is a fine for the incident, but Tullahoma is appealing. 

The game finally resumed and neither team was able to find the net, so they went to a shootout. The Lady ‘Cats were kicking first. Brindley Duncan scored on the first kick. Franklin County answered with a goal of their own. The second kick from Tullahoma was kept out of the net by a diving stop. The Rebelettes second kick went off of the post. The keeper stopped Tullahoma’s third kick and then they scored to go up 2-1 after three rounds of kicks. Alexis Chamblee kicked in a goal to tie it at 2-2 before Franklin County booted in another to keep their lead 3-2 going into the final round of kicks. Gracie Martin had to score to keep the shootout going and she did just that beating the keeper to tie it at 3-3. The Rebelettes fifth kicker also scored to give them the 4-3 victory in the shootout, as they repeated District Champions for their fifth consecutive season.

After the game the district announced and honored their award winners. McLayne Bobo was elected as Co-MVP of the year in the district. Claire Fogarty won Co-Goalie of the year. Avery Sisk, Liandsy Garcia and Alexis Chamblee were elected to 1st team All-District team. Greyson Bolle, Catelynn Ballard and Gracie Martin were elected to 2nd team All-District team. Bobo, Garcia, Brindley Duncan, Bolle, Harper McShea and Fogarty all made the All-Tournament team.

The Lady Wildcats travel to Livingston Academy tonight for their Region semi-final game. If they win, they will play for the Region Championship on Thursday in Winchester.

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