For Michael Parker and the University Heights Academy Lady Blazers, it was another Groundhog Day ending to its soccer season.
Like Bill Murray reliving the same day over and over in the hit movie from the 1990s, Henderson County put an end to UHA’s season for a ninth time in the past 10 years. The latest was a 2-1 win on Thursday in the region semifinals in Madisonville.
Kendall Hancock gave the Lady Blazers a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute on the team’s first shot, taking a pass from Skyler Cantrell and poking home her 49th goal of the season.
But Parker knew one goal wasn’t going to be enough to get the win, and told his squad as much at halftime when the 1-0 score stood up.
“It seemed like as the game went on, we slowed down a little and they kind of stepped up. They have some really good athletes in the middle of the field and they kind of slowly but surely overpowered us,” Parker said.
After seeing Cantrell, Hancock, and Audrey Perry continually working the ball up the field and giving the Lady Blazers chances in the first half, Henderson County coach Ben Dempsey decided to switch things up in the second half to control the midfield.
“We changed our midfield shape a little bit. I thought UHA did a really, really good job of suffocating us in the middle and moving the ball really well,” he said. “We put a few more numbers in the middle just to kind of give us some support. And we also put Layla Gugel on the outside against (Cantell). She really hurt us the first 20 to 30 minutes of the game. You don’t ever know if it’s going to pay off, but I thought the kids did a great job of executing that.”
Henderson County, held to three shots through the first 35 minutes, began to get some looks at the goal as the first half ended.
Kacee Butler broke through for Henderson County when she took a pass from Taylor Dunn and scored five minutes into the second half to knot the game at 1-1.
As expected when the teams meet, Wednesday night’s contest was a physical one with 26 fouls called. It was a foreshadowing of the game’s deciding goal with 8:07 left.
A hard foul was called on UHA just outside the goal box that set up a direct kick from about 30 yards. That’s when the smallest player on the field came up with the biggest goal of the season for the Lady Colonels.
Marley Collins fed the ball toward the goal and after a couple of deflections, Baylee Womack, who may stand 5-foot-3 on her tiptoes, banged home the loose ball in front of the net for what would be the game-winner.
“It was a great service. It was just a little tap-in. Without the service (from Collins), it wouldn’t have been there,” Womack said of her goal.
UHA got a couple of looks in the final five minutes but couldn’t come up with the equalizer.
“Right to the end, we had several decent chances but I knew one goal wasn’t going to win it. I knew we needed to get a second,” Parker said of the Lady Blazer goal that never materialized.
It was another chapter in the UHA/Henderson County rivalry that has been decided by two goals or less six times in the last nine region tourney appearances.
UHA’s season ends with a record of 15-4 and a roster with no seniors.
“We’ve got to get over that (region) hump but we’re in a we’re in a very unique position next year. I don’t think any teams in our region are in the position of having no seniors,” Parker said. “I want them to think to themselves what can they do in the offseason to come back a better player? Is it to work on their touch? Is it get stronger? Get faster? We’ll come up with a game plan on what they need to do and hopefully next year we’re just a little bit more successful.”
Henderson County (15-6) moves on to Thursday night’s championship match against Madisonville, a 4-1 winner over Trigg County in the other semifinal.
The Lady Colonels beat Madisonville 5-4 on August 19.
“We need to match their intensity,” Dempsey said of the title match. It’s a home game for them and it’s going to be probably one of the bigger crowds we’ve played in front of. It’s going to be one of those moments where I think the first team that settles in and actually plays soccer is probably going to win the game.”
