The Forrest Lady Rockets reeled off their third straight win on the pitch by defeating the Marshall County Tigerettes 3-2 in Lewisburg on Tuesday afternoon.

Forrest (3-1) got off to a fast start and raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first half before staving off a spirited Tigerette rally attempt to claim the hard fought victory.

"It was important to get off to a good start because sometimes we lose steam and need to have a lead," said FHS coach Natalie Dennis. "This game used to be bigger when we were in the same District. I think we should all support each now, but it's still nice to win against a team close to home."

Most shots

Thanks to their strong first half performance the Lady Rockets outshot Marshall County 10-8 overall.

"Forrest's defensive structure is difficult to breach. It's tough to make adjustments during the middle of the game. We made some adjustments at halftime and played much better in the second half, but they're aggressive and tough to score on," said MCHS coach Mark Redferrin. "We possessed the ball more and created more scoring chances in the second half, but dug ourselves too big of a hole."

Sarah Blasingim, Sierra Waggoner, and Cassie Septer tallied one goal apiece for the Lady Rockets with Blasingim also recording an assist. FHS goalie Jasmine Runk stopped a couple of close range shots by Marshall County in the second half to help preserve the win and finished with four saves overall.

Young talent

"I'm really proud of Jasmine. She's an eighth grader and never played before this year, but she has played awesome so far," said Dennis.

Emily Spence and Abbey Redferrin each scored one goal for the Tigerettes (4-2-1), while Sophia Raffo notched an assist. Marshall County goaltender Alexis Ford registered five saves in the contest.

The Lady Rockets grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute when Waggoner kicked in a rebound in front of the MCHS net after Ford had a long range shot by Forrest midfielder Brynn Colvin deflect off her hands.

Forrest then scored a nearly identical goal in the 19th minute to open up a 2-0 advantage. Ford was unable to handle another long range shot by Colvin before Blasingim chased down the loose ball and booted it into the back of the net.

In the 37th minute, Blasingim and Septer teamed up for a goal to give the Lady Rockets a 3-0 lead. After receiving a nice pass from Blasingim in front on the Marshall County net, Septer fired a low, skidding shot into the right hand corner of the goal.

Tigerettes kick in

The Tigerettes began to pick up their offensive pressure in the second half and got on the board in the 57th minute when Spence lined a close range shot between Runk's legs to narrow the gap to 3-1 after receiving a pass from Raffo in the middle of the field.

Runk blocked a close range shot by MCHS striker Clara Wilson in the 70th minute, but Redferrin sliced the deficit to 3-2 in the 72nd minute by winning a loose ball in the middle of the field and lofting a shot into the upper right hand corner of the net from the top of the goalie box.

Forrest, though, managed to keep Marshall County at bay and held the Tigerettes scoreless over the final eight minutes to hang on for the win.