When you hold an opponent without a single shot in a half, it makes it very hard for said opponent to get off to a good start in a match. That is exactly what the Hopkinsville Tigers did Saturday afternoon at the Stadium of Champions.
In conditions that grew oppressively hot as the match went on, the Tigers held Logan County without a shot in the first half as they took a 2-0 lead. The good start carried Hopkinsville for the rest of the match as the Tigers knocked off the Cougars 4-1.
Hopkinsville got on the board early in the first half when Gavin Harton took a rebound right in front of the net and drove it past the Logan County keeper to make it 1-0.
The scored stayed there until the final minute of the half. Playing off a corner kick, Cesar Sotelo found the net and extended the Hopkinsville lead to 2-0.
At the end of the opening half, the Tigers had outshot Logan County 10-0. A big part of that was the midfield defensive play of Alex Rameirez, Lester Macario, David Lopez, and Erick Hernandez. The quartet simply refused to allow Logan County to mount a serious attack on goal for the first 40 minutes of play.
Ethan Fabian got things rolling for Hopkinsville in the second half. His left-footer shot rocketed into the net, extending the lead to 3-0 at the 50:00 mark.
The Cougars finally got on the board at the 56:00 when Kaden Sells scored right out in front of the net after a throw in from the left side, cutting the lead to 3-1.
Any thought of a rally though was quickly put to rest as Alex Rameirez scored a penalty kick after the Cougars were called for a foul in the box at 60:00 to make it a 4-1 Hoptown lead.
The heat appeared to start to wear on both teams after the final water break and the 4-1 score would hold to the end.
While Logan County did not get shutout on shot attempts again in the second half, Hopkinsville’s defense still limited the Cougars to just four shots. For the game, the Tigers outshot Logan County 19 to 4.
The win, which was the second straight for the Tigers, improves Hopkinsville to 2-1 on the season. The Tigers hit the road Monday night for a big challenge against regional favorite Madisonville-North Hopkins.
