BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – The Cascade Lady Champions (14-1-2, 8-0) continued their march back to State with a resounding 5-0 victory over the District 10-A Runners-Up Richland Raiders (10-5, 9-1) on Tuesday night to advance to the Region 5-A Championship.

“It [returning to Sectionals] is huge, especially for our seniors,” Cascade Head Coach Wendy Williams said postgame, “They’ve worked so hard these last four years, and we want to get back there [State] for them. All of our girls have worked really hard, and we just have to take it one game at a time.”

Early on, Richland nearly nabbed a go-ahead goal in the first ten minutes, but the Lady Champions quickly settled into their possession-based attack shortly thereafter. 

In the 22nd minute, Cascade very nearly took the lead when Adalyn Nelms’ beautiful cross was whipped in waist-high from the right wing and found Kyla Pulley, but her attempt at goal trickled just wide.

Not to be deterred, the Lady Champions broke the seal three minutes later. In the 25th minute, Pulley was played in behind the Raiders’ defense by Brinlee Collet through the right channel, and Pulley used her pace to accelerate into a one-on-one with the Richland keeper. Cascade’s forward took aim and fired the ball to the keeper’s right, hit with such venom that the net rippled as it flew into the goal untouched for a 1-0 lead.

Just 10 minutes later, Kaylee Martin assisted Adalyn Nelms to double the Lady Champions’ lead to 2-0. Martin dribbled to the byline before playing a centering pass, allowing Nelms to take a touch before roofing the ball into the underside of the net for a two-goal cushion heading into halftime.

“I think our girls were moving to the ball and moving to the open spaces,” Williams said, “I felt like they were reading things very well on the field. Richland is a very physical team, and our girls were really tough tonight.”

In the 47th minute, Collet delivered her second assist of the night, this time finding Martin for her first goal of the evening to give Cascade a 3-0 advantage seven minutes into the second half. 

12 minutes later, Nelms was taken down in the box for a penalty, and Olivia Winnett stepped up to slot home her seventh goal of the season to make it 4-0.

Finally, Martin scored her 13th goal of the season to secure her brace on the night in the 80th minute. As the seconds ticked down closer to the final whistle, Martin was able to convert a one-on-one opportunity to reach the final margin of 5-0.

For the third-consecutive postseason game, the Lady Champions started Pulley up top with Martin at right back before dropping Pulley to right back and moving Martin up to the wing a little past the halfway point of the first half.

“Both Kyla and Kaylee have so much speed,” Williams said about two of her attacking options, “They can both take off and beat defenders with speed. Kyla, having played a lot of defense, it’s kind of trained her to take on bigger and stronger people. She just always seems to make something happen. Kaylee is very similar in that way, but she also has so many moves on the ball to be able to get past defenders. They’re both very fast and physical so we know we can trust them both up top at different times.”

With the win, Cascade advances to the Region 5-A Championship. Since Culleoka came from behind to defeat Community on Tuesday, the Lady Champions are set to travel to the Warriors on Thursday with kickoff TBD.