The Long County Lady Blue Tide soccer team has advanced to the second round of the state playoffs for the first time in seven years after beating the Upson-Lee Lady Knights 3-1 Thursday in the first round of the AAA state playoffs.

Both teams played tough defensively as the game was tied 0-0 at the half.

Things started quickly for the Lady Tide in the second half as Macey Higgason immediately got two looks on goal in the first two minutes of the half.

Both shots were knocked away as the score remained tied at zero. It was the Knights, however, who got on the board first.

In the 54th minute, the Knights got a look from near quarter field and the long shot was banged into the corner of the net as they took a 1-0 lead.

Ten minutes later, however, things changed.

The Tide took their third corner of the half as Higgason lined up her pass. She banged it through to Breana Tyler, who knocked in goal to tie score 1-1 with 16 minutes left in regulation.

They were not done there though as the next six minutes belonged to the Tide. After getting just four shots on goal in the first 63 minutes of the game, the Tide went on a 6-0 shooting run to dominate the final 16 minutes of the game.

In the 67th minute, Myjah Fedon got a look on goal as it banged off a Knight defender and rolled in to give them their first lead of the game.

Three minutes later, Higgason finally scored after taking six of the Tide’s 11 shots as her shot bounced off a defender and went in to put the Lady Tide up 3-1 with 10 minutes left in the game.

The Tide held on for the rest of the game as they did not allow another shot on goal by the Knights. The win puts the Tide in the second round for the first time since 2018.

The Lady Tide will travel to Tyrone to take on the seventh-ranked Sandy Creek Patriots on Thursday with hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals round for the first time in team history.