NATCHEZ — Senior night in the fall turned out to be just as sweet as senior night in the spring for the Cathedral girls soccer team.

After an 8-0 victory against Brookhaven Academy Thursday night, Cathedral clinched the district title after making the switch from the Mississippi High School Activities Association to the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools.

The victory celebration Thursday night forced Cathedral coach Dennis Hogue to reflect on what’s been a wild couple of months.

“The decision was made that we were going (to the MAIS) on a Tuesday (in July) with the season starting the following Friday,” Hogue said. “We had a late-night phone call session and got eight games put together. We were practicing drills and ball skills before we even got our conditioning caught up.”

Fast forward a few months, and the Lady Wave are celebrating their fifth district win. Cathedral’s defense led the way in a shutout against Brookhaven Academy, where it allowed only one shot on goal.

“Before the game, I pulled my defense back and said, ‘Defense is going to win this game today,’” Hogue said. “Offense is going to score goals, but we know they have a couple of key players. If we would’ve been flat and not supported each other, we could’ve been burned. The played like seasoned vets.”

Cathedral struck first in the contest when Emma Hogue found Olivia Moore for a goal. The Lady Wave quickly took a 2-0 lead when Hogue served a pass from the corner to a leaping Abby Brown, who executed a header. On senior night, Brown pulled off the goal she’s wanted to pull off all season.

“That’s been my goal since I started soccer,” Brown said. “I’ve gotten close a whole bunch of times. Finally, I got it to go in.”

Hogue added another goal to extend Cathedral’s lead to 3-0 before Gracie Bertelsen scored a goal to give Cathedral a commanding 4-0 lead.

Mary Frances Sessions scored back-to-back goals to give Cathedral a 6-0 lead, and the other lone senior on Cathedral, Paige Foster, extended Cathedral’s lead to 7 with her first goal of the game.

Seniors Brown and Foster were named to the MAIS All-District Team.

Bertelsen scored the final goal to give Cathedral an 8-0 win and a 5-1 district record.

With district play behind the Lady Wave, Cathedral will host Copiah Academy at home Tuesday.