CHAPEL HILL — Catching stride in the most vital part of the season is always a good thing and the Cascade Lady Champions seem to be finding their groove as they opened the District 6-A tournament Tuesday night with a dominant 3-0 victory against the Forrest Lady Rockets. 
Head coach Wendy Williams has been waiting for her team to put all the pieces together in a game and they did just that Tuesday night. 
“I’m just so proud of these girls for how they’ve come together,” Williams said. 
“They played their game tonight and were able to dominate. We knew they could play like this, they just had to find it.”
From the opening touch, Cascade controlled the tempo offensively, but they weren’t able to find the back of the net until the 31st minute when Eve Speirs deflected a pass by Forrest and blasted the ball from right outside the box for the opener. 
Seven minutes later they increased their lead to 2-0 after Ellie Chapa stole the ball in the Lady Rockets’ half and crossed it to Abby Harris on the left side for a goal. 
The Lady Champions kept the Lady Rockets on their heels for the entire first half by constantly pressuring the ball up-and-down the field. 
Even with a 2-0 lead, their intensity carried over into the second half as they took 19 total shots in the final 40 minutes. 
“The girls set goals for themselves and I think this game meant a lot to them,” Williams said.
“It shows by how hard they worked and played as a team.”
The final goal of the contest came in the 76th minute when Harris streaked down the right side and crossed the ball to the center of the box to Ella McGeary for a tap-in goal and 3-0 advantage. 
But it wasn’t just the Lady Champions’ offense that was playing at the top of their game. 
Goalkeeper Claire Perry stopped 14 shots throughout the match, including a crucial save in the final minutes with the Lady Rockets mere feet from putting it past the goal line. 
Winning and moving on in the tournament is worth celebrating, but Williams is more focused on their next opponent in the Community Viqueens. 
“We’re just going to focus on the next game up,” Williams said.
“We have Community next, so we’re going to focus on them and see how far we can go.”
In the regular season, the two split their two-game series with Cascade winning 3-2 at home and Community edging out a 1-0 victory on their home turf to secure the first seed in the tournament. 
The two will meet again on Thursday in Unionville at 6 p.m.

Cascade 2 1 – 3
Forrest 0 0 – 0

First Half
C — Eve Speirs from outside the box, (31st minute).
C — Abby Harris assisted by Ellie Chapa, (39th minute).

Second Half
C — Ella McGeary assisted by Abby Harris, (76th minute).