The ball rolls into the net after Kirsten Heikkinen (17) headed it for the lone score in Wednesday night's district championship game.

  WINCHESTER---In what has become an annual showdown the past few years, the Tullahoma Lady Wildcats and Shelbyville’s Eaglettes faced off for the District 8-AAA soccer championship Wednesday night. The thing that was new this year was that the Eaglettes came into the contest the clear-cut favorite in many people’s minds after a 3-0 shellacking of Tullahoma less than three weeks ago that really wasn’t as close as the score might indicate.
  Apparently, the Lady Cats failed to get the memo that this was a game they were supposed to lose. With 2:12 left in the first half, senior Macie Mayberry hit a perfect corner kick to the front of the net, and junior Kirsten Heikkinen rose up in a crowd of players and headed the ball into the net for the only score of the contest.
  Tullahoma’s 1-0 win sets up a Tuesday night regional game at home against the loser of tonight’s Siegel-Riverdale contest. Shelbyville will go on the road against the winner of that match.
  "It was an awesome job by the girls," coach Richie Chadwick said. "For the second night in a row, it was a team collective effort. The girls who reported in came in giving 100 percent, and I think we've been missing that. Before, there was some drop off, more mentally than from a skills standpoint. Last night the girls who came in played really well."
  The first half was very evenly played and it appeared it was going to be 0-0 at the break with the final 40 minutes deciding matters. But at the 2:12 mark, Mayberry’s corner kick made its way over most of the crowd in front of the net to the back post where, for the second night in a row, Heikkinen made a perfect play to head the ball into the net.
  Shelbyville had no intention of going quietly. The Eaglettes were relentless in the second half, pressuring a Tullahoma defense anchored by keeper Katherine Baltz who was looking for her 13th shutout of the season. She got it, but not without some stellar play from defenders playing in front of her.
  The Lady Cats started the second half in attack mode, hoping to get a second goal quickly. When the scoring opportunities didn't develop, Chadwick switched to a more neutral formation, then eventually, with the clock as an ally, he adopted a defensive formation and near the end packed it in on the defensive end in a conscious effort to kill time. The strategy concedes some possession time but makes it it much more difficult for the opponent to score.
  The Lady Cats also managed some attack on the other end. They didn’t get as many scoring opportunities as Shelbyville, but they did get some good ones. Senior defender Chelsea Stoner banged a header off the goal post at one point, and forward Katie Mullins had another near miss while battling the keeper for a ball in front of the goal.