NATCHEZ &045; It might as well have been a dream, as far as Tracy Davis was concerned.

She scored the winning goal and made four crucial saves in a penalty kick shootout to beat cross-town rival Cathedral in her final game.

Davis led Natchez (5-6) to a 1-0 win over the Lady Green Wave (5-8), ending the Lady Bulldogs’ season with a win.

&uot;I was so nervous, I thought we would beat them in the game,&uot; Davis said. &uot;I saw all those people up in the stands cheering for us, and I had to do something for them.&uot;

She did something all right. After the game ended 0-0 despite a number of scoring chances for both teams, including a penalty kick for Cathedral in regulation that bounced off the crossbar, Davis set to work.

She and Cathedral goalkeeper Abby Brown each blocked their first three attempts. Davis saved the fourth as well, catching a high shot from Jamie Greer that almost went over her fingertips.

Davis stepped up to take the fourth kick for Natchez and drove it high and slightly to Brown’s left into the goal, giving Natchez a 1-0 lead. Davis dove to her right to stop Cathedral’s Alana Malone and end the game.

&uot;We practice penalty kicks every day. I was positive we were going to outshoot them in the penalty kicks,&uot; Cathedral coach David Gaud said. &uot;Every time we play Natchez, it seems like we always outshoot them, we just can’t outscore them.&uot;

Cathedral still has at least two games left on its schedule, a game against McComb at 11 a.m. today at Cathedral and a playoff game Tuesday, though the team was still waiting to see who it would face in that game.

Cathedral’s girls made the playoffs for the first time in the team’s history, though the Lady Green Wave will be without leading scorer Kate Ellard, out with torn ligaments in her ankle suffered earlier this week.

&045; Christian Schmidt