In a matchup that featured the top two scorers in the region, it was the defenses that stole the show in Tuesday’s 5th District girls’s soccer championship.
Trigg County broke a 1-1 halftime tie with two early second half goals to defeat Lyon County 3-2 in Eddyville. The district title is the second straight for the Lady Wildcats and the third in the past four years.
The match featured Lyon County’s Alice Smith and Trigg County’s Lania Hite, who both passed 100 career goals earlier this year. They both scored a first half goal. Smith scored in the 16th minute on a spin move in front of the goal. Hite scored the equalizer with less than 30 seconds left in the half.
“I think we were tight and not really ready for the intensities they were going to match it with.
They (Lyon) were playing a little freer and coming off a big win last night for them, they were ready for us, and it showed,” said Trigg coach Jason Hite.
With each team focusing on shutting down the other team’s star player, the defenses were on display in the second half.
Trigg’s defensive line of Zoe Miller, Isabella Detweiler, Brooke Humphries, and Charlstyn Heath kept Lyon County off the scoreboard for 63 straight minutes until Anna White scored with a minute left.
“Our defense played amazing tonight. Actually the unsung heroes of the game for sure drew a tough assignment any time you have to defend players like Alice (Smith) and Anna White and any of those girls, they bring it every night. It’s probably the best game they’ve had all year,” Hite said.
Trigg County broke the tie in the 50th minute when a Lyon County handball in front of the box gave Camryn Boone a direct kick that she converted for a 2-1 Trigg lead.
Four minutes later, Leiah Hite gave the Lady Wildcats a needed insurance goal when she bent in a corner kick for a 3-1 lead.
Lyon County outshot Trigg 13-10, including 7-5 in the second half. One of those shots came off the foot of Anna White who scored in the final minute for the final margin.
“We knew what we had to do. We knew we had to watch the sisters and we knew if they came back, we were going to have to cover them in the midfield,” said Lyon County coach Abby Smith. “We had to make sure that we weren’t just chasing where the ball was. We had to look to where the pass was and they did a really good job of that in almost the entire first half.”
Lyon County (11-6-2) moves into next week’s region tournament at Henderson County along with Trigg County, who improved to 17-2 with a new school record for wins in a season.
“The region is wide open this year. I mean, it kind of helps to be a district champion, but at the same time, it kind of depends on the draw,” Hite said. “We’ve worked very, very hard this year on shape and possessing the ball and being patient on the attack.”
Like Hite, Smith agrees the 5th District could represent well at the region tournament.
“We have to be ready to play whatever team that we that draws us. We’ve got a lot more players than just number 12 (Smith) out there and I think that’s where a lot of teams kind of underestimate us a bit because I’ve got several shooters more than just who I put up there that can shoot.” Smith said.
