University Heights Academy coach Michael Parker knows when you get to the region soccer tournament, it’s just a matter of surviving and advancing. That’s what the Lady Blazers did on Tuesday as they defeated Hopkins County Central 3-0 in the quarterfinals at Donley Field in Madisonville.
With temperatures in the low 50s at kickoff with a wind chill in the low 40s, a light rain greeted the teams coming out of halftime for about 10 minutes.
Gracie Ausenbaugh got the scoring going with 26 minutes left in the first half when a Kendall Hancock shot caromed off the post and straight to Ausenbaugh, who knocked home the rebound.
UHA outshot Hopkins Central 7-2 in the first half, but Ausenbaugh’s goal was the lone tally of the first 40 minutes.
“We definitely had a ton of chances, but we couldn’t finish,” Parker said. “We needed an extra touch or we tried to bring it on to the other foot. We wasted too much energy to come into halftime at 1-0.”
UHA scored four minutes into the second half when the Lady Blazers banged home another rebound. It was Hancock who finished a shot from Kate Cayce to up their lead to 2-0.
The Lady Blazers closed out the scoring with eight minutes to go when Audrey Perry’s shot was deflected to Hancock who was able to send a header in past Hopkins Central goalie S.J. Barnett.
UHA held a 17-5 advantage in shots with Barnett making 13 saves for the Lady Storm, whose defense impressed Parker.
“(Destiny) Caudill may have been the best player on the field tonight,” he said. “She saved them a couple of goals and does that every game.”
Madison Williams made four saves in goal for UHA, who improved to 15-3 and moved into the region semifinals for the eighth time in nine seasons.
Hopkins County Central saw its 2024 run end at 12-8-1 – the Lady Storm’s eighth winning season in the past nine years.
“I’m just proud of them. They played hard and every team that we played twice, we improved against them,” Hopkins Central coach Ben Lutz said afterward. “I feel like from day one in August to right now, we’re such a different team, and, you know, we’ve grown a lot, and it’s a good building block for next year.”
For Parker, the win was his 275th as a head coach at University Heights Academy. He won 139 games as boys coach from 1998-2010 and 136 as girls’ coach.
UHA will have a semifinal showdown with Henderson County, the school that has ended its season at some point in the region tournament eight of the past nine years. The Lady Colonel breezed into the round of four with a 9-1 win over Lyon County.
Henderson County beat UHA 3-1 on Sept. 12 during a time when the school was dealing with the loss of a popular student.
“It was possibly our worst performance of the season. We didn’t play well that night, and I don’t think the kids’ mind was really on the game and it showed,” Parker said. “Wednesday, we need to be much more focused and ready to play because Henderson is always ready.”
UHA and Henderson County meet in the second semifinal on Wednesday at 7:15 following the 5:30 semifinal between Madisonville and Trigg County.
