LADY TIGERS WIN DISTRICT TITLE OVER JACKSON IN 4OT

For the second consecutive year, the Jackson and Cape Central girls soccer teams battled deep into overtime to decide the Class 4A, District 1 championship.

Wednesday night's version saw the Lady Tigers break a scoreless tie in the fourth overtime period to deal a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to the Lady Indians at Houck Stadium.

"We knew it was going to be a war," said Cape Central coach Tom Doyle. "It always is."

Top-seeded Cape Central finally closed it out on a goal from senior all-stater Amber Voerg on an assist from Trisha Klipfel with about one minute gone in the fourth and final overtime. The contest would have been decided by a shootout had neither team scored in the period.

Klipfel, who scored the game-winning goal in last year's district showdown, battled for possession near the end line and fed Voerg who cut it back between a defender and sneaked the shot past Jackson goalie Whitney Werner just inside the near post.

"I was tired; I just wanted to end it," said Voerg, who was feeling the effects of a bout with illness over the past two weeks.

In this battle of two evenly matched teams, both squads performed extremely well. Every pass seemed to be contested and there was crisp, clean tackling throughout.

"It was a total team effort tonight," said Doyle. "We had everybody out there working hard."

Jackson coach Zack Walton was pleased with his team's effort.

"Our girls played well," he said. "We held Cape scoreless for a full game and three overtimes, so defensively you're playing really well.

"It's tough, it hurts. We've worked so hard this year and you're so close to winning that thing. It's tough, but that's soccer."

Statistically, the match was close as well. Cape Central managed a few more shots to hold a 7-3 edge. Werner, stellar in goal all season, recorded six saves, while her counterpart, Heather Hey had three in the shutout effort.

About 500 fans attended the first district match held on the artificial turf at Houck.

"The atmosphere out here was great," said Doyle. "I hope this kind of sets a precedent for the future and maybe even get a sectional game down here. This is a better surface than what we play on up North."

The Lady Tigers will meet the District 2 winner in the sectionals at Fenton on Tuesday.