When the IHSA postseason seeds and pairings came out, Bella Clevenger and the Princeton Tigresses soccer team set their sights on having to beat Rock Island Alleman to win the championship.

But first, they knew they had to take care of business in Monday’s regional semifinals, defeating Macomb 6-1 on the strength of two goals each by Clevenger and Olivia Sandoval and one each by Ava Kyle and Chloe Ostrowski.

“This means a lot,” Clevenger said. “This is the starting point to the postseason and the regional championship we’ve been wanting since at least my freshman year. Probably our seniors’ freshmen year as well.”

The Tigresses (17-6) will face top-seeded and four-time defending sectional champion Alleman (10-8) for the title at 11 a.m. Saturday at Bryant Field. The Pioneers beat the Tigresses 3-1 last month in Moline.

“They’ve been in our way for a while. If we want to win it, it should be them,” PHS coach David Gray said. “We should have to earn it against a team like Alleman. If not them, somebody else. Should be that way.”

“I think it’s more meaningful because we already played Alleman this year and came up short. Just a little bit short,” Clevenger said. “I think with Saturday coming up on our home field, it will be way better for us, and we’ll be way more confident. We’ve been playing real good soccer recently and connecting our passes more.”

Gray made a bold charge after the game about the mission ahead, and that’s exactly what Clevenger wanted to hear.

“He’s setting the standard for us, and we don’t want to go below our standard. We want to go above it,” she said. “We know our worth. We know our skills. We’ve been having a great season. We have it in us. We definitely do. We have to come out and play our best soccer Saturday, and with these next four days [of practice], we’ll get a lot done hopefully.”

Clevenger scored both of her goals in the first half. Kyle followed Clevenger to give the Tigresses a 3-1 lead at the intermission.

Sandoval scored her goals back-to-back in the second half, the second on a pinpoint assist by Ruby Acker. Ostrowski closed out the scoring by sneaking a shot past the Macomb keeper to make it 6-1.

“That’s kind of the best part about our team, it’s a balanced unit, and when we play our best, it’s good team soccer,” Gray said. “We don’t have to rely on any one person because usually the team steps up. It’s a group effort, and it’s a good group. And it’s why we’ve got the record we’ve got and the opportunity we’ve got.

“We knew we had a job today. I think we felt pretty confident if we played well, we should be able to win the game. I don’t know if it was our best, cleanest performance, but we played hard. We made them work for everything. I think we won the game with our energy, effort and physicality. But it’s going to take a little more skill on Saturday.”

Princeton seeks its first regional title since 2022, when it beat Genoa-Kingston 6-0 to win its own regional.

Alleman is 10-8 with three losses against Iowa teams and five at the hands of in-state Class 2A schools. The Pioneers tied for first place in the Western Big Six Conference with East Moline.