NATCHEZ &045; It’s been a historic season for the Cathedral girls soccer team.

For the first time in the five-year history of the program, the Lady Green Wave had a winning record in district play. For the first time, Cathedral will play in the MHSAA playoffs tonight.

It may take a historic effort from the Lady Green Wave tonight to keep their season going any farther. As the Division 7 runner-up, Cathedral (5-3, 6-9) will travel to Bay St. Louis to face Our Lady Academy, the defending state champion.

&uot;They’re the defending state champion,&uot; Lady Green Wave head coach David Gaud said. &uot;It’s going to be a lot of fun.&uot;

Facing Our Lady also means a long road trip all the way down to the Gulf Coast. The team will leave Natchez around noon with plans to arrive at the game site about 4 p.m., an hour before the scheduled kickoff.

Playoff soccer doesn’t just mean a step up in the level of competition, it also means facing unfamiliar teams. Our Lady has been one of the state’s best soccer teams over the past few years, but Cathedral doesn’t want to back down now.

&uot;I don’t know much about them other than they’re the defending state champs,&uot; Gaud said. &uot;I talked to a couple coaches who have played them, and they said they’re a very nice, well-mannered group of girls. They play hard, have a lot of skill and are pleasant to play.&uot;

Gaud will also get a chance to see son Blas, a midfielder for the Green Wave, play in his playoff game. The girls’ game was moved up to 5 p.m. from the original 5:30 p.m. start time so that Gaud can drive over and watch the Green Wave play.

&uot;Their coach was gracious enough to move the game time so I could go see my son,&uot; Gaud said. &uot;I had pretty much resigned myself to missing his game, but this way I should be able to at least catch the second half.&uot;

Cathedral boys at Mercy Cross

The Cathedral boys have started playing some of their best soccer of the season at the right time &045; heading into the playoffs.

&uot;The last three games gave us some confidence,&uot; Cathedral head coach Rick Freeman said. &uot;We really finished up strong and played aggressively in our last couple games. Saturday against McComb we played aggressive soccer for a whole game.&uot;

The Green Wave (5-3, 9-8) will probably need to play some of their best soccer of the year to beat Mercy Cross, a traditional powerhouse in the soccer ranks. The Cathedral boys, at Biloxi, will be playing only about 30 miles from the Lady Green Wave in Bay St. Louis.

Freeman said he doesn’t know much about Mercy Cross’ style of play, just that beating it won’t be easy.

&uot;I just know they’re a good team, but we are too,&uot; Freeman said. &uot;I figure they have pretty good ball skills, but I don’t know.&uot;

Part of that is making sure that the Green Wave doesn’t miss any easy shots, like on penalty kicks. At practice Thursday, the team spent time working on their penalty kicks just in case the game comes down to that.

&uot;We just have to play our game and capitalize on our opportunities,&uot; Freeman said. &uot;I don’t know how many opportunities we’ll get, so we have to capitalize on the ones we get. If we do that, we’ll be fine.&uot;