It’s been a near-perfect season for Fairview’s girls soccer team so far.

But one thing would make it even better.

“Our team’s main goal this season is to advance past the sectional tournament into the state tournament,” Fairview center midfielder Izzy Reding says. “Making it to state would be an experience that we would remember forever.”

The Lady Yellow Jackets (17-1, 6-0 in District 12-AA) are seeking their second state tournament appearance after first making it in 2013 when they lost in the opening round. The team finished one win short of the state tournament last year after suffering a 2-0 sectional loss to Valor Prep.

Fairview is off to its best start since 2011, when the Yellow Jackets started 20-0-2 before losing their last two games in the postseason, including a season-ending sectional loss to Christ Presbyterian Academy.

The Lady Yellow Jackets won their 16th straight game with a 10-0 rout of Creek Wood in a District 12-AA semifinal Tuesday night.

Fairview meets Sycamore for the championship at 6 p.m. Thursday.

There was a 13-day gap between the last regular-season game at Battle Creek and the district tournament, giving the Fairview players time to heal minor injuries.

“I think that our team’s strong bond and ability to support each other, even through the highs and lows, has helped us to become such a strong team this season,” Reding says. “I also think that our willingness to put in the work was a huge factor that led us to success.”

Fairview won the district regular-season title for the second straight year.

“We won the district tournament (in 2023), so we’ve had a good couple years of runs here,” Fairview coach Kevin Sizemore says. “We’ve been blessed to have some talented girls come through our program in recent years.”

Fairview finished second in the district tournament last season after a 2-1 overtime loss to Sycamore in the championship.

The Yellow Jackets have finished in the top two in the district during 14 of Sizemore’s 19 years as coach, including four district tournament titles. He is 226-115-27 with five sectional appearances at Fairview.

Williamson County schools have always boasted strong programs.

“One, we have really good travel programs in the county, and more and more of our girls have gotten into those travel-program teams, so they’re playing a high level of competition year-round basically, so I think that helps,” Sizemore says. “For us at Fairview in particular, we’re lucky that we have a single middle school that feeds us. So those girls get real familiar with each other.”

Sizemore played baseball at Northeast and West Virginia Tech. He also played soccer at Northeast.

Normally, Fairview is known for its offense, but the Yellow Jackets have won 14 of 17 games by shutouts this season. The Yellow Jackets have outscored their opponents 105-5.

First-year starter Sarah Morgan has been in goal all season for the Yellow Jackets. She ranks third in the state with a 0.278 goals against average.

“I told her, ‘Hey, if the other team doesn’t score, it’s hard to get beat.’ And she’s taken that to heart,” Sizemore says. “She’s an extremely smart young lady. She always seems to be in the right spot at the right time.”

The 5-foot-8 senior anticipates well and isn’t afraid to slide to take a ball off an opponent’s foot.

“She is aggressive, bold and knowledgeable when making decisions in the box,” Reding says.

Center backs Aubrey Kelton and Ashley Pulido are both four-year starters for the Lady Yellow Jackets in their 4-2-3-1 formation.

“We’re super aggressive at the top of it, and very solid and compacted at the back on the defensive side to keep us from getting any counterattacks against us,” Sizemore says.

Striker Maleah Martinez leads Fairview’s offense with 42 goals this season, ranking her second in the state. The senior has erupted for five goals in several games, including Tuesday’s win over Creek Wood. She is third in the state with 92 points.

“She is super athletic and super fast,” Sizemore says. “In her mind, if it’s one-on-one, she’s not getting stopped. So having that mindset has allowed her to create a lot of stuff for herself.”

Martinez doesn’t need a lot of space to get her shot off and can play anywhere on the field.

“She’ll get the ball with her back toward the goal and just do a quick spin and get a shot off left- or right-footed,” Sizemore says. “I think it surprises some teams because they think, with her back to the goal, she’s probably not a threat at that point, and all of a sudden she can turn and get a shot off in the blink of an eye.”

Martinez and Morgan have committed to Columbia State. Fourth in the state with 17 assists, Reding has an offer from Pikeville, where she may join her older sister, Jackie.

Martinez has a strong supporting cast.

“I think we’ve had 13 different players score this year,” Sizemore says. “They complement each other really well.”

Fairview is a veteran team with six seniors and two juniors who will graduate early.

The Yellow Jackets' only loss came in a 1-0 setback to Hume-Fogg when the Lady Blue Knights scored with 10 minutes left in the Yellow Jackets’ second game of the season.

Sophomore wing Scout Akens might be Fairview’s most underrated player.

“She’s got a really good foot on her,” Sizemore says. “Usually, she’s the one that runs the long ball down and sends it back to the box. She can get balls off her left foot that most people can’t. She’s usually the one that gets our offense started because she’ll chase down all the balls that we play long, and she takes most of our corner kicks.”

Fairview is ranked second behind Liberty Creek (16-0-2), a potential sectional opponent, in Class AA in MaxPreps' RPI rankings.

Sizemore teaches robotics at Fairview and has a robot that paints the field for home games.

“(Turf Tank) sets your field up on a GPS system, and all I do is put a bucket of paint in it and hit a button on a tablet, and they’ll paint my field in 30 minutes,” Sizemore says. “It’s the greatest thing we’ve ever invested in.”

That’s much easier than when Sizemore marked the field with aerosol paint cans for three or four hours on Sunday afternoons.

“Ten years ago," Sizemore says. "I would have had a lot more time on my hands."