The University Heights Academy Lady Blazers are headed to the 2nd Region Girls’ Soccer semifinals for the 5th year in a row. The Lady Blazers advanced Tuesday evening by holding off a pesky Webster County team 5-1 at the Stadium of Champions. Grace Pape helped lead the way for UHA with three goals on the night.
Early on it looked like the Lady Blazers were going to roll out to a big win, just like they did against the Lady Trojans in 2018. Grace Pape drilled a shot from 25 yards out in the first 45 seconds of the match to give UHA a 1-0 lead.
After falling 11-1 in last year’s opening round, Webster County was determined to make more of a battle of it this time around. The Lady Trojans evened things up at the 10:00 mark when Abbie Michalek scored off an assist from Marissa Austin to make it 1-1.
The Lady Trojan’s defense was able to keep the Lady Blazers off stride until the 20:30 mark when Ashlyn Parker scored to give UHA a 2-1 lead. The Lady Blazers extended the lead moments later, at the 26:00 mark, when Grace Pape scored again, this time with a crossing shot from the left hand side into the right corner of the net, to push the lead out to 3-1, which is how the half would end.
While UHA’s offense was working to find its stride, the Lady Blazer defense continued to be solid, limiting the scoring chances for the Lady Trojans.
Grace Pape completed her hat trick at the 55:30 mark, blasting a shot from about 20 yards out to give University Heights a 4-1 lead. Ashlyn Parker would cap off the scoring when she headed a corner kick from Grace Pape into the net at the 69:00 to move the lead on out to 5-1.
The win improves UHA’s record to 10-6-2 and moves the Lady Blazers into the region semifinals Wednesday night against Madisonville. The last time UHA did not reach at least the region semis was 2014.
Webster County finishes the season at 10-8-0.
