University Heights Academy took another step closer to its first girls region soccer championship in 17 years on Monday with a 2-0 win over Madisonville-North Hopkins in the semifinals.
Kendall Hancock scored both of UHA’s goals, and the Lady Blazers welcomed back Maddie Williams in goal in picking up the win on their home field.
Williams suffered a bruised shin in UHA’s district championship win and missed Saturday’s quarterfinal win over Webster County. She returned Monday with nine saves, seven in the second half.
“She’s a big part of the success of this team, no doubt about it. She was playing in a little bit of pain, but that injury the other day didn’t have any impact on her performance. She’s definitely back to her best,” UHA Coach Michael Parker said.
The Lady Blazers were dealing with a bit of angst in the early minutes as they missed two close-in shots and had a goal wiped off the scoreboard due to an offside call.
Hancock got the Lady Blazers on the scoreboard in the 24th minute when she took a pass from Alyssa Grise and snuck a shot past Lady Maroon goalie Nevaeh Lindle.
The goal came during a physical first half that saw 13 fouls called – 11 on UHA. At the end of the half, both Parker and Madisonville coach John Tichenor were each given a yellow card from the referee for their vociferousness in arguing the number of calls or lack of calls, depending on their viewpoint.
In all, UHA was given five yellow cards, and for the match, 30 fouls were called, with 21 whistled against the Lady Blazers. Despite the calls, Parker felt his team handled the physical play thanks to their trip to the Gothia Cup in Europe over the summer.
“We played four games over there, and every one of them was physical. We like to put the ball down and pass it and play like that, but having spent a couple of weeks in Europe and playing that physical kind of soccer, we’re definitely used to it,” he said.
UHA held a 14-11 advantage in shots and also took away a key Madisonville weapon. The Lady Maroons scored three goals off six corner kicks in Saturday’s quarterfinal win over Crittenden County. They were 0 for 3 on Monday.
Hancock weaved up top with nine minutes left and banged home the insurance goal from outside the box to put the Lady Blazers ahead 2-0.
“We wanted to get one or two early if we could, and I thought we played well enough that we could have had two or three. In the second half, they had to come out more and play, and that created a little bit of space at the back, and we were able to get a second one,” Parker said.
Madisonville, the defending region champions, finished with a 13-8 record with a roster that includes only two seniors. The top six scorers and the goalie for the Lady Maroons are all underclassmen.
UHA (18-2-1) has won eight straight matches since a first-round loss at the All A Classic State Tournament. They have allowed one goal or fewer in all eight wins.
The Lady Blazers will meet another defensive-minded team in Wednesday’s championship. Hopkins County Central (15-3) advanced to its first-ever region championship with a 1-0 win over Trigg County in the other semifinal.
UHA beat the Lady Storm 2-1 on September 25.
“I’m hoping we can finish better. The shot count that night was 31-6, so we’re hoping that we can take a few more chances,” Parker said. “We created a lot, but we just didn’t finish, and we’re hoping that if we can take care of business, we should be good.”
