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The Huntland High School Lady Hornets lost to the Cascade Lady Champions 3-0 at Forrest High School Thursday in the District 9A championship game.

The Lady Champions took an early lead and scored two more times in the second half, and the Lady Hornets weren’t able to answer back as they finished as the district runners-up for the fourth time in five seasons.

Huntland head soccer coach Amanda Tipps said that her team put in a strong effort overall, but some unfortunate bounces and misplayed balls that worked against them proved to be the difference.

“I think we played hard. We just had some unlucky breaks that didn’t go our way,” she said before also paying tribute to the effort by the Lady Champions. “We didn’t capitalize on the breaks that we got, but (Cascade’s) a good team. I don’t want to take anything away from them.”

The Lady Champions got on the board quickly as they scored about four minutes after the opening kickoff to take a 1-0 lead.

The Lady Hornets attacked the opposing goal a few times throughout the first half, but they weren’t able to break through for an equalizer.

They trailed 1-0 at halftime.

The Lady Champions doubled their lead about 90 seconds into the second half with a shot on a breakaway that just slipped by Huntland goalkeeper Molly Tipps and found the net.

The Lady Champions scored one more time with seven minutes to go to effectively put the game out of reach on a shot which went across the goal and snuck inside the right post to make it a 3-0 game.

The Lady Hornets were unable to break through for a score in the time remaining as they were shut out for just the second time this season.

Following the conclusion of the game, Hazel Reed, Molly Tipps, Ali Smith and Marley Phillips were named to the all-district team for the season.

Kinsley Kilpatrick, Reed and Raegan Johnson were named to the all-tournament team.

Johnson was also named the Defensive Player of the Year for District 9A, and Piper Cox was recognized as a co-Offensive Player of the Year for the district.

With the loss, the Lady Hornets moved to 10-4 on the season.

They will next play in a semifinal game for the Region 5A tournament on the road against the champion of District 10A. An opponent, date and time for the game had not been decided at the time of writing.