Henderson County played the part of the defending region champion as they took down Lyon County 9-1 in the quarterfinals of the Second Region girls’ soccer tournament on Tuesday at Donley Field in Madisonville.
Kacee Butler had a hat trick and Taylor Dunn and Layla Gugel each scored twice for Henderson County, who won their 16th consecutive game against Second Region teams dating back to last year.
“We play a pretty tough schedule. The speed of play is something we’re going to stress all week,” Henderson County coach Ben Dempsey said. “We try to test our girls, so that way they’re ready for the postseason. And you could see that in the first 20 minutes tonight.”
It took Henderson eight minutes to dent the scoreboard, but they followed with four goals in a little over six minutes to build their lead to 5 -0.
Lila Dunn scored Henderson’s first goal at the top of the box, and Dunn scored her 50th career goal on a boomer from 30 yards out for a 2-0 lead.
Butler’s first goal was a header off a corner kick from Marey Collins for a 4-0 lead.
Dunn completed her hat trick with 23:39 left in the half to build the Lady Colonel lead to 5-0.
Lyon County was able to get a goal back in the 18th minute when Alice Smith fed Anna White on a through ball. White was able to punch it in for her 17th goal of the season.
It was Lyon County’s first and only shot of the match and it found the back of the net to cut the deficit to 5-1.
Collins and Butler added goals to push the advantage to 7-1 by halftime. Henderson County played the part of the aggressor to begin the second half and ended the match just 1:16 later with Gugel’s second goal of the game and Butler’s third goal which triggered the 8-goal mercy rule.
Henderson County outshot Lyon County 20-1 with Lyon goalie Richmond Herring making six saves.
Lyon County’s season of adversity ends with a record of 9-10. The Lady Lyons lost three starters to season-ending injuries and had a fourth player unavailable on Tuesday due to COVID.
However, coach Abby Smith, who has coached some of the senior class since they were in elementary school, said the trials experienced this year should pay off in the future.
“They’ve learned a lot of fundamental skills and mentally they know that they’ve got to be ready to step up at any moment,” she said, adding “You can’t use injuries as an excuse and they have learned that you cannot use an injury or somebody being out for whatever reason. You’ve got to be ready to go in there, know the game plan, and be ready to play anywhere.”
Henderson County moves into Wednesday’s semi-final match where they will take on University Heights Academy, a 3-0 winner over Hopkins County Central.
These teams met back on September 12 with Henderson County getting a 3-1 win.
“I think both teams do a really good job of winning the first ball. Whoever’s better in both boxes is going to win the game,” Dempsey said. “Coach Parker does a really good job getting his girls ready for the postseason. Those are the kind of games where it’s going to feel like a region final. It always does with them.”
Trigg County and Madisonville will meet in Wednesday’s other semifinal. The region championship is set for Thursday.
