By Tim Fleischer Editor-in-Chief

Salado Lady Eagles are headed to the 4A Region III finals to face the undefeated Bay City Lady Black Cats after the Lady Eagles got past the Hardin Jefferson Lady Hawks, 2-1, on April 6 in a match played in Columbus.

Bay City beat Lake Belton 3-2 to maintain an unblemished record. The Region Final soccer match will likely be played at 6:30 p.m. April 9 in College Station at College Station High School.

The Lady Hawks took three shots on goal within the first eight minutes of play, all saved by Avery Wright.

Hardin Jefferson kept the ball on Salado’s side of the field for the early part of the first period, before Claire McIntosh was able to get a shot past Wright on an assist from Logan Padgett in the 14th minute of the game.

Midway through the first period, the Lady Hawks took four shots on goal across a span of two-and-a-half minutes with Wright keeping Salado in the game by defending them all.

Holly Wright missed a shot in the 30th minute and Julianne Garner made a save in the 32nd minute of the match before Anna Lesley had a shot go wide in the 33rd minute, keeping Salado scoreless in the first half.

Wright kept three more shots from hitting the net in the final five minutes of the first period. In the 34th minute, it looked as if McIntosh might get her second goal of the period as she sprinted past defenders up the middle, but Wright rushed up to meet her 15 yards out from the goal for the stop.

Early in the second half, Garner made three saves in a two minute span before Aubrey Heffner took a pass from Anna Lesley to put it in the back of the net at the 49th minute to tie the match at 1-1.

Taylor Dabney went down with an injury with 22:23 left in the match, but was able to walk off the field with assistance.

Holly Wright put a pass from Allison Carnahan over the extended arms of Garner to put Salado up 2-1 at the 66th minute.

She missed a shot at the 73rd minute and Garner saved another shot by Wright on goal at the 75th minute to keep the match within reach.

But Salado returned each advance across midfield to eat the final five minutes of time to preserve the 2-1 win.

The Lady Eagles beat Lorena Lady Leopards, 2-1, in the Region Quarterfinal on April 1.

Haley Piatak scored for the Eagles about 15 minutes into the game with the assist coming from Holly Wright.  

Allison Carnahan got the Eagle’s second goal approximately 20 minutes later.