Known for its offensive explosiveness in recent years, the University Heights Academy Blazers have turned to defense to overcome its slow start to the season.
The Blazers turned back Hopkinsville 2-0 Wednesday at the Stadium of Champions, their sixth straight win over their district rivals.
Since an 0-3 start, the Blazers are 6-1 and have held their opponents to one goal or less in those six wins.
Matthew Hauret had both goals for UHA, scoring 14 minutes into the contest and adding an insurance goal from 30 yards out with 8:28 left.
UHA held a slight 11-9 advantage in shots as both defenses were on full display.
“I thought we got outplayed as far as effort goes, especially in the first half,” said UHA coach Josh Nichols. “I thought our effort improved in the second half, but just didn’t play our best game and give credit to Hoptown. They certainly had something to do with that. I thought they played pretty well. They were the better team in the midfield tonight for long stretches and it made it difficult. But anytime it’s a rivalry game, you’ll take any win, any way you can get it”
Hopkinsville was coming off a six-goal performance in a Monday win over Trigg County but again, found trouble getting good looks at the net. The clean sheet was the seventh Hopkinsville has seen put against them this season.
“We played an actual great game. Just a couple of mistakes and led to a couple of unlucky goals,” Hoptown coach Aaron Hutchison said. “We held our own. We just have to find a way to put the ball in the back of the net.”
Hopkinsville fell to 3-9 overall and 1-1 in district play. They have games next week against Christian County and Fort Campbell that will determine their postseason seeding for the tournament.
The Tigers have played three teams in the state’s top 30 in the KHSAA RPI rankings – something Hutchison admits was ambitious when it came to scheduling. However, he feels the competition will pay off for his team.
“We played a tough schedule on purpose and the boys are really resilient. I think they’ve taken away a lot from all these teams that we played and we’ve only gotten better,” Hutchison said.
As for UHA, Nichols is hoping his team is clicking at the right time with district matches coming up with Christian County (Thursday), Fort Campbell (Saturday), and Heritage Christian Academy (Monday).
“We know that we’ve got to have a good effort to play the best we can. And we have to do a better job keeping the ball,” Nichols said. “We get two or three passes and then someone just bangs it up. And that’s not the way we want to play, and that’s something we need to do a better job of going forward.”
