Caldwell County’s girls have won 26 straight soccer matches against Hopkins County Central. However, No. 26 came with a lot of angst on the Lady Tiger sideline.
The Lady Tigers (12-6-2) struggled to find the net in Monday’s 7th District tournament semifinal matchup in Princeton.
Morgan McDaniels got help from Laken White in the 10th minute to put Caldwell up 1-0. But that would prove to be the Lady Tigers’ only goal of the night.
Hopkins Central (13-7) tied things midway through the first half on a long shot from the right side by Katelyn Cavanaugh.
The teams went to halftime deadlocked 1-1, then battled through a scoreless second half.
After 10 minutes of overtime still could not produce a winner, the match went to a shootout.
Cavanaugh capitalized on Hopkins Central’s first shot in the tiebreaker. However, she would be the only Lady Storm to find the net. Two shots went over, Caldwell keeper Karsyn Parker stopped another attempt and Hopkins Central’s final shot went wide to the right.
Meanwhile, McDaniels and Kaylee McEnaney converted penalty kicks for Caldwell, which was enough to give the Lady Tigers both a 2-1 decision in the shootout and a 2-1 triumph in the match.
Caldwell is now 30-3 all-time against Hopkins Central. The last win in the series by the Lady Storm came during the 1999 season.
The Lady Tigers will take on top-seeded Madisonville-North Hopkins in Tuesday’s 5:30 p.m. championship game.
The Lady Maroons sport the 2nd Region’s best record at 17-1-1.
Madisonville leads the all-time series with Caldwell 25-8-1. That includes a 6-0 decision in Madisonville on Aug. 27.
