University Heights Academy kept its unbeaten streak alive Saturday with a 6-0 win over Apollo at Givens Field.
The win moved the Lady Blazers to 7-0 – the program’s best start since 2016 (7-0-1).
It was another stout performance from the UHA defense, which held Apollo to just one shot in each half in registering its fifth clean sheet in seven starts.
Kate Adams, Ava Colburn, Ajae Oats, and Michelle Salas anchored the defense in front of goalie Madison Williams who made two saves.
Audrey Grise scored two goals in the first five minutes to set the tone of the match for the Lady Blazers. Skylar Cantrell and Audrey Perry provided the assists on the goals.
In the 19th minute, Kendall Hancock was fouled in the box, and Audrey Perry converted the penalty kick for a 3-0 lead.
Apollo (6-7) adjusted in the midfield and kept the Lady Blazers off the scoreboard for the next 37 minutes.
Hancock found the net for the first time in the 58th minute from out front.
A minute later, Oats headed in a perfect corner kick from Perry for a 5-0 lead.
Grise completed her hat trick with four minutes left off Perry’s third assist of the night.
“I thought we played well. I think compared to some games this season, the midfield really, really had to dig in and work hard,” said Coach Michael Parker. “The score doesn’t really reflect how hard we had to work. Apollo will pass the ball in a little triangle when it goes through the midfield really well. In the second half, we kind of shut it down.”
UHA faces its toughest stretch of games this week starting with a home match Monday with Ohio County – a team they haven’t beaten since 2018.
On Wednesday, UHA will host Murray in an All-A Classic sectional game with a berth in the All A state tournament on the line.
Thursday, the Lady Blazers host Henderson County – the program that has ended UHA’s season seven of the last eight years.
“We need to work on when we lose possession of the ball and transitioning back and making sure that we go with our runners,” Parker said. “We’ve got a tough one Monday night in Ohio County and you know we’ll get to work on one or two new things there. We’ve just got to brush up a little bit on communicating with each other when we lose possession so that everybody picks up a runner.”
