GRAY DEYOSports Writer

The Tullahoma girls’ soccer team, last Saturday on Oct. 25, punched their ticket to the state tournament. They did it by beating Roane County High School in a sub-state match 1-0. They now travel to Chattanooga, where their first match was scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 28.

The Lady Wildcats soccer program has had many offensive explosions this year that have led them to some large margin victories. On Saturday, this was not the case as both teams brought high level defense to the pitch.

Tullahoma’s defense has been much discussed this year, as they have only allowed seven goals on the year, but Roane County High also had their moments throughout the year where they shut down other team’s offenses. In the season, they had 10 shutout wins. The persistence of this Tullahoma group, however, took the helm over the opposing Lady Yellowjackets’ defensive efforts in the game early.

A great throw-in deflected off an opposing defender into the path of senior Avery Sisk inside of Roane’s penalty box. Sisk then made a snappy decision and passed it to fellow senior McLayne Bobo. The leading goal scorer in the program rifled a shot into the lower right corner of the goal, to give Tullahoma a 1-0 lead. This ended up being the lone goal of the game.

Both teams hit a stalemate in offensive production following the score. Tullahoma, especially late, went away from pushing offensively and focused on dwindling the clock down and keeping the ball out of their final third defensively.

With the win, the Lady Wildcats will go to Chattanooga to play in the state tournament, where their first round opponent will be Elizabethton High School. This is the first time the Lady Wildcats have made the state tournament since 2005.

One thing to note about the Lady Wildcats’ first game in the Scenic City is the opposing Lady Fighting Cyclones are coming in hot. To start the 2025 season, they started off with a 3-2 record. In their last seven games, they are 6-0-1. They have won those matchups by a combined score of 22-4.

With that, the Lady Wildcats have shown they were great in the season at taking things one game at a time. This has elevated even more through all levels of the postseason. Them being able to do this will help them greatly in the Tuesday matchup, as every game they play now is win or go home.

A brief look ahead, if Tullahoma was to win this matchup, they would then play the winner of Signal Mountain High School and South Gibson High School. Gibson has a record of 13-6, and Signal has a record of 15-4-2. The Lady Eagles (Signal Mountain), in their last two games, beat teams Tullahoma is familiar with. They defeated Central Magnet 4-1 and Roane, who they just played, 4-0.