Leiah Hite became Trigg County’s all-time leading soccer scorer on Monday, but it was Hopkinsville that stole the show with three unanswered goals to forge a 4-4 tie with the Lady Wildcats outside of the Stadium of Champions.
Hite scored a pair of goals to stake the Lady Wildcats to a 4-1 lead at the 49-minute mark, taking a feed from Maggie Wolfe to score the record breaker on the through ball.
Hite, who also holds the school’s record for career assists, broke the scoring mark of 145 career goals set by her sister Lania from 2020-23. The goals also give the Lady Wildcat senior the 5th District scoring mark. The record-setting goal came with no fanfare, no stoppage of play, and no pre-made sign announcing the achievement. Hite scored the goal and did what she has done 145 times before — jog back to her position ahead of the resumption of play.
Wolfe assisted on Hite’s first goal with 17:43 left in the first half, giving her a team-leading 27 assists this season.
It was Hopkinsville’s Kaylyn Lynch who scored the first goal of the match when she got control of the ball in front of the net and spun a kick into the back of the goal for her 15th goal of the season.
Kiylee Jones answered for Trigg two minutes later when she rebounded a missed shot in front and scored her fourth goal of the season to tie the match at 1-1.
Wolfe scored her 11th goal of the season eight minutes into the second half to put Trigg ahead 3-1. That came a minute before Hite’s record-setting goal that put Trigg up 4-1.
Kaydon Coats provided an answer for Hoptown 18 seconds later when she rebounded a missed shot to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Azaa Enkhtugs sent a high shot into the net with 20:09 left to get the Lady Tigers to within 4-3.
Coats added the equalizer with 12:50 left when her 24th goal of the season tied the match at 4-4.
Jaleigha McFarland celebrated her senior night with a big second half. She made 12 saves on Trigg shots, with seven coming in the final 30 minutes. She came up with a huge save with four minutes left when she came out to knock away Hite’s advancement on a through ball.
Trigg outshot Hopkinsville 18-13, with each team putting up eight in the second half.
Kylie Slone made three saves for Trigg in the first half, and Caroline Kosak saved three in the second half.
Trigg County had won four straight against Hopkinsville before Monday’s tie. The Lady Wildcats are 13-3-2 and have only one loss in their last 11 matches.
Trigg will close out the regular season Tuesday at home against West Creek High of Clarksville.
Hopkinsville has three wins, a loss, and a tie in its previous five matches, with a season record standing at 8-8-1. The Lady Tigers will host Lyon County and Tuesday and Union County on Wednesday ahead of next week’s district tournament.
