By Thomas Sellers Jr.
CORDOVA — The Millington Lady Trojans had more than a week to stew in the defeat from the District 15-2A Soccer Championship game held on their new turf field.
On Oct. 7 the Lady Trojans were overwhelmed by the Covington Lady Chargers 5-1 and were forced to travel for the first game of Regionals.
That day finally came on Oct. 18 on the field of Cordova Stadium against Memphis RISE.
The Lady Trojans of Jerrett Everson played with composure on defense and aggression on offense to eliminate Memphis RISE 3-0. Millington earned a rematch with Covington Thursday night in Tipton County and secured a Saturday Sectional game.
“Thursday, I am looking to get Covington back,” Everson said. “Hopefully we can settle the score. The key to today’s win was my girls feeling defeated after the game against Covington. They wanted to bounce back and show they deserved to keep their season going. That was the biggest thing for us.”
About 9 minutes into the game against RISE, Lady Trojan Kenzie Gordon boomed a kick 25 yards away into the net to make the score 1-0.
Despite having two RISE players around her 90 percent of the game, Alexis Williamson evaded the defense long enough to score Millington’s second goal.
The freshman standout took advantage of a rebound opportunity and blasted the ball into the back of the net making the score 2-0 with 20 minutes remaining in the first half.
Millington’s final goal came 10 minutes later when senior Lexi Thompson advanced the ball along the sideline. Then she sent a kick across the field to a waiting Julizeth Cuevas. Cuevas made contact with the ball and scored the third and final goal.
Solid defense the final 50 minutes of the game earned the Lady Trojans a rematch with Covington for the Region 8-2A championship.
The Lady Chargers cruised by Ridgeway 9-0 to reach the title game.
The winner of the Covington vs. Millington game will host Sectionals on Saturday. The loser will have to travel to either Dyersburg or South Gibson.
“Happy to be in Sectionals for sure,” Everson said. “Not too sure about hosting it right now because we can’t host it at the stadium because they’re putting the track down. So if we host it, we’ll be back behind the Intermediate School, and I am not a big fan of that field.
“Could be an advantage to us because if a good team comes out and plays on a bad field it could mess them up,” he concluded. “I am not opposed to it but let me just say this, I’ll rather be at home than travel.”
