LONG BEACH – Long Beach rode a pair of corner kicks by Ashley Harvey and a furious defense to advance to its first Class 5A championship soccer game in school history.

Kathryn Buchanan and Shayna Turner turned Harvey’s corner kicks into early first-half goals as Long Beach defeated Vicksburg 2-0 Thursday night.

Long Beach (15-8-1) advances to the Class 5A title game Saturday at 2 p.m. against Madison Central (22-1) at Millsaps College.

“Once you score a goal at the beginning, you get hyped up and you keep shooting, shooting, shooting,” said Harvey, a freshman sweeper. “Our defense did great. Our four defenders and our keeper were awesome. We went to the ball. We wanted it.”

Vicksburg, a traditional girls power with five state championships, ended its season at 13-10-2.

Long Beach struck first when Buchanan, a freshman forward, took the corner kick from Harvey and scored at point-blank range against keeper Kristi McCain.

The Lady Bearcats upped the score to 2-0 when Turner, a junior forward, delivered a header into the net off Harvey’s corner kick.

“We needed a second goal to hold our spot,” Turner said. “I was just thinking that I have to get another goal. I really just closed my eyes and prayed (on the header).”

Vicksburg, which got off to a slow start offensively, didn’t take a shot on goal until the Missy Gators trailed 2-0. Sophomore forward Holly Head kept the pressure on the Lady Bearcat defense, squeezing off plenty of shots and suffering a couple of near-misses.

“I made the decision to start with the wind in our face in the first half,” Vicksburg coach Kevin Manton said. “And that might have hurt us. Normally we play better in the second half and we did a little bit.

“Give them all the credit in the world. They came to play. Everything I heard about (Long Beach) was true. They win all the balls, they hustle, they play hard. Their competitiveness keeps them in the game and they will give Madison a battle on Saturday.”