Lady Vols win on penalty kicks to advance

Not even a two-hour weather delay and a match that went to penalty kicks could keep the Starkville Academy Lady Volunteers from reaching their ultimate goal.

Starkville Academy defeated Bayou Academy 1-0 (4-3 penalty kicks) at the Starkville Sportsplex on Tuesday night.

Mia Kate Cade, Meredith Reed, Kat Mccaskill, Riley Fisher and Anna Claire Heflin were the Lady Vols that took the penalty kicks with Fisher’s being the deciding goal.

Starkville Academy head coach John Morgan said his team “had a game plan and executed it to perfection.”

“I would have liked to have seen us create a little more offense, but at the end of the day, we got the W and that’s what you need,” Morgan said. “We survived and advanced.”

The two teams were scoreless through one half of play, then lightning sent both teams off the field and into a delay.

Once play resumed, another scoreless half was completely along with overtime and penalty kicks where Starkville Academy ultimately got the victory after a long night.

“I couldn’t be prouder of them,” Morgan said. “They earned it and worked so hard. For a team that is so freshman heavy that they are, usually you don’t expect freshman teams to be able to do things like this. They won a district championship and then took on a team that had beaten us three times in a season, but it’s like I told them in pregame, ‘can they beat you when it counts and when it matters?’”

The Lady Vols, who improved their overall record to 13-12, will host Pillow Academy in the second round on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.