Over the last two years, Hartselle’s girls soccer team saw its season end at the hands of East Limestone.

This year, however, the team finally got payback.

The Lady Tigers, led by seven seniors, was the team that eliminated East Limestone from playoff contention after defeating the Indians 6-3 and then sweeping Cullman in its final regular season games to clinch a playoff berth.

“We finally got over that hump this year,” said senior Lindsey Woodruff. “It felt good to finally beat them and to eliminate them from the playoffs. They were the team that knocked us out the last two years.”

Fellow senior Alycia Timm said she thinks the biggest difference between this year and last year is due to the leadership of the senior class.

“We have seven seniors and all of us are leaders,” Timm said. “So we’ve got seven leaders out on the field all the time. This is just a special team.”

One of the keys to that success is how close the team has been.

“This is the closest team I’ve ever been on,” Woodruff said. “We all have each other’s back.”

It’s that trust that helped this team to success.

That is something that head coach Jeff Roberts stresses every day in practice – to communicate with each other and trust each other.

Roberts said his team may not as big or strong as other teams, but he wants his teams to play fast and play together.

“We like to out-think our opponents,” Roberts. “We try to beat you with speed and try to take advantage of our opportunities.”

That is something they’re preparing for against Fort Payne. The Lady Tigers tied with Fort Payne earlier in the season 1-1 in physical matchup.

“We’re expecting another tough physical game,” Timm said.

The Lady Tigers play in the first round of the playoffs tonight.