Madisonville-North Hopkins had a ‘Taylor-made’ defensive plan for Lyon County that paid off in its 9-2 win over the Lady Lyons in Tuesday’s quarterfinal match at Henderson County.
Veteran coach John Tichenor marked Smith, who entered the game with 57 goals, with freshmen defenders Taylor Nelson and Taylor Barber. The duo held Smith without a shot in the first half and may have even shadowed Smith to the halftime huddle.
“I was very concerned going in. I would love to have number 12 (Smith) and number 15 (Anna White) on my team because they’re impact players and they can score goals at any time in any minute. Plus the other girls on the team really scratch and get after it,” Tichenor said. “We said if they beat us, Smith is not going to beat us as well. Make someone else beat us so that was the plan.”
The Lady Maroon defense was part of a perfect storm that saw Madisonville score four times in the first eight minutes of the match.
McKinley Wilson had three of the first four goals, and Madison Hill added another as part of the early Madisonville barrage.
“I thought we came out ready to play. That was the main thing. We were focused and maybe caught Lyon County on their heels just a bit. I was impressed that we came out like that,” Tichenor said.
The quick start by Madisonville was frustrating for Lyon County coach Abby Smith to watch.
“We prepared. We watched game film of them playing other teams. I mean, they played us earlier in the season too. We knew exactly what they were going to do on that kickoff. And we’ve practiced the past two nights to prepare for that,” she said. “I guess they just had to have it happen to them to make believers out of them. Unfortunately, that happened in a regional game.”
Anna White got Lyon County on the board less than a minute after Madisonville’s fourth goal which turned the momentum a bit into the Lady Lyons’ favor.
Madisonville’s only goal the rest of the half came on a Hill penalty kick.
“We switched a few people around in different spots and found where we had the flow and where we had the breakdown,” Smith said.
After being held shotless in the first half, Alice Smith found the net six minutes into the second half when she redirected a shot into the net to draw Lyon to within 5-2.
Madisonville finished things off with four goals in a 16-minute stretch. Hill completed her hat trick, and the Lady Maroons also got goals from Brooklyn McCracken, Hannah Davis, and Kailey Barber.
The game could have ended earlier via the 10-goal mercy rule if not for the play of Lyon goalie Richmond Herring who made eight of her 10 saves in the second half.
Lyon County’s season ends with a record of 11-7-2. Smith knows the process of preparing for 2024 begins with finding players to replace this year’s graduating class.
“We’ve got to encourage those younger players in middle school to come out and play JV. We need this year’s players to come back out and play next year because we’re a small school,” she said.
Madisonville (10-8-1) moves on to Wednesday’s semifinal against University Heights Academy, a 10-0 winner over Union County. The teams met on September 26 with the match ending in a 2-2 tie.
“(UHA coach) Michael Parker’s teams always play really hard,” Tichenor said. “(Like them), we have younger players and start four or five freshmen. It will be a task.”
