For the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers, it was good just to have the chance to get back on the field after being quarantined since mid-September. It was also a matchup for the top seed in the 8th District tournament, which gets underway next week, as they took on the UHA Lady Blazers on their home field.
A combination of the strong Lady Blazer defense and a three week layoff was a bit took much for the Lady Tigers to overcome however, as the Lady Blazers rolled to the 4-1 win, locking up not only the top seed in the 8th District tournament, but guaranteeing themselves a berth in the 2nd Region tournament as well.
The UHA defense limited the scoring opportunities for Hopkinsville, as the Lady Blazers outshot the Lady Tigers 41-3 on the evening.
The Lady Blazers got on the board for the first time at the 19:00 mark when Molly Bennett found the ball bouncing in traffic in front of the goal and put it in the net to give UHA the early 1-0 lead.
UHA increased the lead later in the half. Grace Pape beat the Hopkinsville defense down the field and drilled in a shot that deflected off the right post and into the net to make it 2-0 at the 26:30 mark.
Hopkinsville made the move to get back in the match less than two minutes later. Makayla Marshall guided a shot past a diving effort from UHA goalie MaKenzie Young at 28:15 to cut the lead in half at 2-1.
Despite only holding a one goal lead at the break, the UHA Lady Blazers had controlled the half in terms of possession. The Lady Blazers outshot Hoptown 16-2 over the first forty minutes of action.
The Lady Blazers continued their possession dominance in the 2nd half, and finally put the game away when Grace Pape found the high right corner of the net. That pushed the UHA lead to 3-1 at the 68:30 mark. The Lady Blazers would add one more goal in the final moments of the match to close out the scoring.
With the win, UHA improves to 6-2-2 on the season.
Hopkinsville falls to 3-2. The last match for the Lady Tigers had been back on September 15th when they beat Christian County 1-0.
