The Lady Spartans traveled to Heritage Hills Saturday morning for the Lincoln Cup tournament. They faced off first against Heritage Hills. The Patriots started out fast and dominated the possession from the jump. The Spartans knew their defense as a team would need to be top notch to compete against the Patriots. Throughout the first half, the Spartans held strong with their defensive front, and keeper Layla Thomas came up big with some great saves in goal. The game went to half tied 0-0. The second half started the same, and the Spartans were executing the game plan perfectly. About halfway through the second half, one collission changed the game as the Patriots got awarded a penalty. They put it away and took a 1-0 lead. The game continued much the same, but the Spartans had to try to push forward a bit more. A couple half chances came in the form of Azaria Easley up top trying to get it behind the Patriots defense. Those efforts were cut off before any real chance for the Spartans. With 5 minutes left, the Patriots put the game away when they found the net again to make it 2-0. The Lady Spartans battled tough, and were able to execute the gameplan and hold the Patriots to their closest game of the season up until that point. Defense held strong and Layla Thomas kept the Spartans in the game with a chance until the end. Layla Thomas had 24 saves in the first game. The second game of the day the Spartans faced off against Mt Vernon. This game was very tightly contested from the jump, with both sides having early chances and the ball going from one end to the other. It continued on like this for the majority of the first half and went to the break 0-0. The Spartans didn't want to go away winless on the day, so they held strong and came out ready to play the second half. They battled and kept trying to get break out chances with lots of good looks. Finally about halfway through the second Kalissa Lavely was able to find Azaria Easley for the go ahead goal and reward the Spartans efforts. The Spartans kept pushing, and with a little under 10 minutes left got rewarded again as Lavely connected with Easley once again to put the game away. The Wildcats didn't back down though and finally got awarded a penalty. Keeper Layla Thomas held her ground and denied the Wildcats chance to get on the score board. The Lady Spartans played some great team soccer on Saturday and all players did well and gave full effort. Azaria Easley 2 goals Kalissa Lavely 2 assists Layla Thomas 24 saves The Spartans move to 3-2 (1-0) on the year. They have the week off and don't play again until they travel to Washington Catholic Saturday for an in conference matchup.