Step one for Warren Central was erasing the sour memory of the last district tournament.

Step two is the one Warren Central has worked to hurdle all season.

Senior midfielder Adelisa Becirovic scored both goals for Warren Central in a 2-0 win over Warren East in the opening round of the District 14 girls’ soccer tournament.

Now the Lady Dragons (16-3) get the reward of playing top-seeded Bowling Green on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at Bowling Green Junior High School.

“We’ve been working toward this,” Becirovic said. “We couldn’t let what happened last year happen again and we came out and did what we had to do, had a game plan and did it and that’s what happened.”

True to form in the Warren Central-Warren East series, Monday marked another close match. The Lady Raiders won the opening round of the 2017 district tournament by one goal.

Their lone meeting this year was another one-goal game Aug. 27.

Monday was another single score match until Becirovic scored her second goal of the night – her 39th of the season – with five minutes left in the match.

“Warren East, they play a certain system that matches up well against how we play and every time we play them it’s a tough game,” WCHS coach Alex Tungate said. “They’re very well-coached and we knew they would come in and be very well-coached.

“We set a goal at two goals. That is exactly what we ended with … Now we’ve got a major challenge ahead of us tomorrow.”

Both teams only got four shots on goal apiece, but Becirovic made hers count.

Her first goal came on a sliding shot in the box that deflected off goalkeeper Grace Rigsby’s hands in the 35th minute. Warren East placed two shots on goal in the second half, but Warren Central controlled the tempo.

Becirovic delivered the dagger from the right side with 5:31 left in regulation.

Warren East (12-7) ends its season with senior Lucy Patterson leading the team with 18 goals and Shelby Trent credited with 12 scores.

Warren Central now faces a Bowling Green team that’s shared a spot in the Region 4 tournament with Greenwood every year since 2000.

Before a 5-0 loss to the Lady Purples in a game split into two nights due to a weather delay, Warren Central had lost 10-0 on three straight occasions.

Warren Central’s only three losses this year have come to Bowling Green, Greenwood and a double-overtime loss to South Warren.

“I think we play a pretty decent schedule in terms of teams that are going to challenge our younger kids,” Tungate said. “We played all the Bowling Green teams pretty tough. We’re just trying to get over the hump. We’re trying to find a way to end the game one goal more than one of them. We’ve been working super hard, I’m proud of our team and I’m interested to see how tomorrow goes.”

– Follow sports reporter Elliott Pratt on Twitter @EPrattBGDN or visit bgdailynews.com.