For Madisonville-North Hopkins, Saturday’s Girls Second Region soccer quarterfinal was a ‘TCOB’ game ahead of a semifinal showdown with University Heights Academy.
The Lady Maroons scored a pair of goals in each half to defeat the Lady Rockets 4-0 at UHA’s Givens Field. They will meet the Lady Blazers in Monday’s 5:30 semifinal match.
Madisonville put the pressure on early with five shots in the first five minutes that Lady Rocket goalie Macibelle Hardesty swatted away.
The Lady Maroons managed to score 10 minutes into the match when a cross from Katelynn Howard found the foot of McKinley Wilson, who booted it home for her 25th goal of the season.
Madisonville doubled its lead later in the half when Macy Wright headed home a corner kick from Hadley Hodges.
The corner kick was Madisonville’s most effective weapon in the match as they converted two of their six into scores.
Freshman Aletheia Golightly headed home another Hodges corner kick to put the Lady Maroons ahead 3-0 in the 50th minute. It was her 12th goal of the season.
Madisonville coach John Tichenor then opted to slow the match down and put the game into a deep freeze, holding possession near midfield for four minutes, in an attempt to coax Crittenden County’s defense to play closer to the midfield. The Lady Rockets had been packing their defense back in a strategy similar to what they ran in the 5th District championship against Trigg County.
With 21:29 left, Wright, who came into Saturday with one goal, headed home her second goal of the match off Hodges’ third assist.
Madisonville’s defense, which came into the contest giving up fewer than two goals a match, didn’t allow a Crittenden County shot until nine minutes were left.
The Lady Maroons (13-7), the defending region champions, move into the semifinal round for the seventh consecutive season.
Crittenden County (7-11-1) fell to 0-5 all-time against Madisonville. Their seven wins are the most in three seasons.
