It’s not easy winning in the postseason.

Because Jacksonville sixth-year girls’ soccer coach Amanda Pelch understands that, she had no issue as Cardinals soaked in Wednesday’s 2-0 fourth-round win over Union Pines following their their final home match.

“We are going to enjoy tonight first,” Pelch said. “Honestly, we haven’t thought about the next game. It will be a conference game, but we haven’t crossed that bridge yet. When we do, we can start developing a game plan.”

Next up for second-seeded Jacksonville (17-3-2) in the NCHSAA 6-A playoffs is an East Regional final fixture at top-seeded and Big Carolina Conference foe J.H. Rose (20-2), which topped No. 5 Southern Lee 9-1 on Wednesday.

Jacksonville and J.H. Rose split their two regular season meetings – each winning at home – which resulted a share for the conference title.

On Tuesday, the squads clash for a third time to decide who advances to the state championship game. The Cardinals return to the regional final after falling in the fourth round last year after reaching the regional game in 2023 and 2024 – the latter resulting in a state title.

“Yeah, we know what it takes, but J.H. Rose is going to be hungry,” Pelch said. “They haven’t been there and we have. Regardless, it’s going to be a fun game.”

Senior defender Caidy Nelson said the Cardinals will be ready.

“All the focus will be on making sure we’re ready for Tuesday,” she said. “It’s going to be a battle, but we’re ready. We want it.”

The Cardinals showed that drive in the second half against Union Pines.

Jacksonville possessed well in the opening 40 minutes, but didn’t find the net. That changed when junior Caroline Doyle scored with 30 minutes, 23 seconds remaining in the second half.

Junior Madison Haigler delivered the ball from the left side towards the middle before it hit off the goalkeeper and landed in front of Doyle.

“It was quick. When she slipped it in, I couldn’t really get my foot on it, so I just chested it,” Doyle said. “Then we had a nice celebration.”

It was the viral scuba celebration.

“We were talking about it at halftime,” Doyle said. “If we scored, I would do the scuba … and our coach had to do it with us.”

Pelch would rather comment on her team’s second-half performance.

“We had to figure some things out in the second half. We were able to find the gaps and spaces and work into them,” Pelch said. “We kept our composure and we just kept going at them and wearing them down.”

Senior Ryder Perry doubled the team after she drew a foul inside the box and converted on the penalty kick with 20:14 left. It marked Perry’s 200th high school point.

“I think we’ve been finding each other and connecting really well in the middle,” Doyle said. “We’ve been bonding well and that’s helped us in the final third.”

Doyle, however, admitted the game was stressful the more it remained scoreless in the first half.

“It was scary,” she said. “You’re either going to do it or you’re not, and we did it.”

And the attack did. The same also goes for the defense of Haigler, Nelson, senior Carley Coxe, freshmen Josephona Nunu and Serenity Singleton and junior goalkeeper Hailey Dufore.

The result was Jacksonvile’s 14th clean sheet.

“We had a discussion at halftime and we were like ‘Hey, we just need to trust each other, find each other, pick our heads up and work together,” Nelson said. “Yeah, it was nerve-racking, but I’m so proud of these girls because we really worked together. It was a team effort.”

Just like it’s been all season with players such as seniors Sienna Corless, Ava Stephens, Riley Morrow, among others, continuing to play well.

“Honest to God, this was a team effort tonight,” Pelch said. “They just found a way to put the pieces together to make it work.”

Chris Miller can be contacted via email at cmiller@jdnews.com. Follow him on X @jdnsports.