After a 10-3 victory over Lyon County in the regular season, the Hopkinsville boys’ soccer team may have been surprised to find itself trailing inside the first three minutes of Tuesday’s 2nd-Region quarterfinal at Henderson County.
However, the Tigers roared in a four-goal 2nd half to knock off the Lyons 5-1 and advance to a semifinal matchup with Madisonville-North Hopkins on Wednesday.
Timothy Stewart ran down a pass on the right from Colt Bannister and stunned the Tigers with a shot into the far side netting to put the Lyons in front.
Hopkinsville responded with lots of possession but couldn’t find the equalizer until Kyle Delvecchio took a pass from Gabe Harton and tucked away a left-footed shot with seven minutes left in the half.
Miguel Magana led the Tiger charge after the break, beginning with a shot to the bottom corner after receiving a pass from Bryan Fernandez and turning at the top of the box.
With just over 20 minutes to play, Magana added his second after chopping up three defenders in the box and finding the back of the net with a right-footed shot.
Magana assisted on the final two goals, playing in Delvecchio with a ball over the top of the defense before providing the pass for freshman Marcel Ndjomo’s first goal of the season.
Hopkinsville held a 22-7 advantage in shots on goal, with Lyon goalkeeper Jackson Crawford making 17 saves. Kenneth McMickens made six stops for the Tigers.
The Lyons fail to advance past the first round of the region tournament for the 16th straight season and end the year at 6-16.
