Sometimes in high school sports, the ball bounces your way and sometimes it just does not. On a second-half play where it looked as if the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers had stopped the UHA Lady Blazers again in a 0-0 match, the ball got away from Hopkinsville goalie Taylor Joachim after she had stopped a shot.
In a case of “in the right spot at the right time”, Emma Dill took the loose ball and found the net to score the first goal of the night, which would turn out to be the winning goal in University Heights’ 3-0 win over the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers in the 8th District championship match at Fryar Stadium at Fort Campbell.
The two teams had battled through a scoreless first half of play. While the match was scoreless after the opening forty minutes, the Lady Blazers had controlled most of the half in terms of ball possession and the flow of play. UHA outshot Hopkinsville 8-2 in the first half.
Hopkinsville goalie Taylor Joachim, along with back line defenders Faith Folz, Grace Cansler, and Alana Ashbery, withstood the pressure from the Lady Blazers, turning away each of the scoring opportunities.
The goal from Emma Dill came at the 47:30 mark and put the Lady Blazers up 1-0. The goal seemed to set the Lady Tigers back on their heels just a little bit, while it appeared to break down the wall for the Lady Blazers.
UHA scored again at 63:15 when Skyler Cantrell scored off an assist from Audrey Grise to extend the lead to 2-0.
The Lady Blazers tacked on another insurance goal when Audrey Perry found the net on a long free kick from the left-hand side at 74:00 to make it a 3-0 lead for UHA. From there, the Lady Blazer defense did what it had been doing all night long and kept the Lady Tigers scoreless for the rest of the match.
With the win, the Lady Blazers pick up their sixth district championship in the past seven seasons. UHA moves to 9-6-1.
Hopkinsville falls to 4-12-2 on the year.
Both teams advance to next week’s girls’ 2nd Region tournament.
