John Tichenor was afraid his Madisonville Lady Maroons would come into Monday’s Second Region soccer tournament a little rusty, having only played two matches in the past 13 days. Early in their region quarterfinal match with Hopkinsville, that worry proved to be true.
But Madison Hill was able to find the back of the net twice in the first 14 minutes and followed with two more goals to help the Lady Maroons beat Hopkinsville 7-1 at Donley Field.
Madisonville moves into Wednesday’s semifinal match against Trigg County, a 10-0 winner over Union County in Monday’s opener.
Due to the cancellation of a couple of matches before the district tournament, the Lady Maroons played one game in the 12 days leading up to the district tournament. They beat Hopkins County Central in the district championship last week and had to wait six more days before their region tournament opener.
“I told the girls before the game that we have played like maybe one game in two weeks so hopefully after tonight’s game we’ll get some rhythm back,” Tichenor said.
Hill was able to get on the board in the 11th minute, using a left foot from 22 yards out for the opening volley.
Hoptown was called for a foul in the goal box 13 minutes later. Hill stepped up and sent a shot into the right corner that Hoptown goalie Jaleigha McFarland got a hand on but couldn’t stop.
Kailey Barber scored her 16th goal of the season off a corner kick with 2:45 left in the half to push the Lady Maroon lead to 3-0.
Madisonville put the match away with three goals in the first seven minutes of the second half.
Barber sent a through ball to Hill who finished a minute into the half.
Hill added her fourth goal of the match and 41st of the season two minutes later for a 5-0 lead.
McKinley Wilson scored the first of her two goals in the 47th minute off a feed from Brylee Baumgardner.
Wilson would finish the scoring when she took a pass from Hill with 7:31 left and found the back of the net.
Hopkinsville would score on its first shot on goal when Rebecca Wood scored 10 minutes into the second half. For Wood, the lone senior on the team, her goal was her 13th of the year and the final one of her Lady Tiger career.
Madisonville held a 26-2 advantage in shots and saw three attempts bang off the crossbar and a fourth off the side post.
“You obviously can’t match their physicality and keeping up with Hill and Wilson out here was really difficult,” Hopkinsville coach Jeff Addison said. “We can’t match their physicality. You try to just be ready for it and prepare them for it. I thought we did much better (than our earlier loss). We were competitive. That’s what I wanted out of this.”
Madisonville moved to 12-3 against Hopkinsville since moving into the Second Region in 2012 and has won eight straight against the Lady Tigers. But Tichenor was impressed with Hoptown’s performance on Monday.
“Jeff has done a good job with them. I think they’re steadily improving and I thought they were a better unit than they were when we played them earlier.”
“I just think we that we needed to just focus on what was in front of us and the obstacle tonight was Hopkinsville. We can’t look no further ahead,” Tichenor said. “I thought that for the most part, we did that.”
Madisonville improved to 10-3 in region first-round games since 2012 and 19-8 overall with their seventh straight opening-round win.
Madisonville will now meet Trigg County in Wednesday’s semifinal, a team they beat 6-0 earlier this year and hold a 10-0 career advantage against.
“What’s in front of us now is Trigg County and we can’t look ahead of them. They have some players who are very capable. Just look at their stat lines so we’ll have our hands full on Wednesday,” Tichenor said.
Planters Bank sponsors coverage of the Second Region Soccer Tournament. Click on the logo to learn more.
