GUYTON -- The South Effingham Lady Mustangs played as good as or better than Ware County for 89 minutes Friday. The first 60 seconds were a different story, however.

Ware County scored just 49 seconds into Region 2-AAAAA contest, taking advantage of some South Effingham confusion in front of the net. The fluky goal was the difference in the Lady Gators' 2-1 victory.

South Effingham coach Amanda Johnson was at a loss to explain what happened.

"We came out slow, unfortunately, and handed them the first goal," she said. "In the second half, we turned the intensity up. We had a lot of shots but our consistency was just not there today."

The Lady Mustangs forced a tie on a header by Jamie Yarbrough with 28:24 left in the second half. Ware County, however, went back on top 10 minutes later.

South Effingham had several prime scoring opportunities in the final six minutes. Shots by Ella Higdon with 5:39 and 4:46 remaining came the closest to erasing Ware County's lead.

The Lady Mustangs, who nipped the Lady Gators 1-0 in Waycross last week, are 3-2 in region play. Johnson expects them to be a contender for first place despite Friday's disappointment.

"We'll be 'whatever and two' -- hopefully," Johnson said. "We should have been four and one. We have the talent to do it"