The Lady Wolverines took advantage of the opportunities they received to beat Hendersonville 3-0.

The win puts Polk, Hendersonville and Avery in a three-way tie for the conference championship race.

Polk County and Avery played to a tie last Friday at Avery.

But on Monday night, the Lady Wolverines handled business.

Brooke Campbell struck first for Polk County, scoring in the first 11 minutes of the match. Her goal was assisted by Liz Willis.

With 15 minutes left in the first half, Mary Kathryn Hemphill sent a corner kick flying towards the goal. Anna Trakas connected and the ball was hit into the back of the net by Maggie Fitch.

The Lady Wolverines went into the half with a 2-0 lead.

In the second half, however, the Lady Bearcats came out working.

&dquo;They kept working really hard and they put pressure on us,&dquo; Polk head coach Rock Charles said.

For the first ten minutes of the second half, Hendersonville kept the pressure on.

With 32 minutes left to go in the match, a Hendersonville forward sent a rocket towards Lady Wolverines goalie Jazmine Bridgeman.

Bridgeman elevated and got her fingertips on the ball for a deflection, but the ball dropped right in front of the undefended goal.

Another Polk defender ran in to get the ball, but just as it was about to go out of bounds and give the Lady Bearcats a corner kick, Bridgeman fell on it in the goalie box, firing up her teammates and the crowd.

&dquo;She was huge because our energy level had dropped off,&dquo; Charles said. &dquo;She came up huge for us. Every time we needed her to make a save, she did.&dquo;

Polk&squo;s final goal of the game came from Anna Trakas. The sophomore broke loose of the defense on the left side of the field and crossed a shot into the right corner of the goal with 29 minutes left in the match.

The Lady Bearcats tried to rally as the game waned, but again the Lady Wolverine defense stepped up to protect the shutout.

With less than two minutes left, Kerry Cunningham chased down a Hendersonville forward, intercepting a ball.

In the waning seconds of the match, Bridgeman came up big again with a diving save.

But the story of the night for the Lady Wolverines was that they took advantage of opportunities, Charles said.

&dquo;With the way we&squo;ve been playing, the key for us tonight was finishing,&dquo; he said.

The Lady Wolverines are 6-4-2 overall and are 5-0-1 in conference play.