Hopkinsville moved into the region soccer semifinals for the first time in three seasons with a 4-2 win over Hopkins County Central in Tuesday’s quarterfinal at Henderson County.
Alex Rameirez assisted on three of Hoptown’s four goals as four Tigers found the net.
Hopkinsville outshot the Storm 17-8 but missed several shots from out front as their attempts sailed high.
Jason Macario got the Tigers on the board three minutes in with his 22nd goal of the season off a feed from Rameirez.
The Tigers pushed the lead to 2-0 when Rayan Bernal rebounded a shot off the post in the 25th minute.
Hopkins County Central didn’t get a shot off until the 19th minute, but made the most of it as Riley Dunlap took a feed from Jackson Gallimore for his 28th goal of the season.
Mikel Ramirez took a cross from Alex and extended the Tiger lead to 3-1 in the 28th minute, but Hopkins Central countered two minutes later when Dunlap scored again off a pass from Jackson Gallimore.
“We had to really keep them from getting wide with the Dunlap kid on the outside. We knew he was going to be wide, so we had to shut that down and do our job of putting the ball in the net,” said Hopkinsville coach Aaron Hutchison.
The Tigers worked to contain Dunlap in the second half as Sebastien Klar drew the assignment to mark the Storm senior, holding him scoreless in the final 40 minutes.
“Once Ethan (Fabian) got his yellow card, Sebastian had to come in and did a great job. He’s got a little speed, and it helped out,” Hutchison said.
Hoptown got an insurance goal with 22:42 left when Erick Hernandez took a feed in front of the net and made a jumping one-touch to guide it in for his 23rd goal of the season.
“I think their speed was part of (the reason for the loss),” said Storm coach Joseph Bridgforth. “We picked it up a little bit better in the second half. We worked this past week on trying to spread the field out a little bit, switching sides to get some more space on the field.”
Hopkins County Central concludes its season at 10-8 – its first winning season in nine years.
“I’m very proud of them. They exceeded many, many goals internally to themselves, and to the school itself. They have broken several school records and have done exceptionally well. I couldn’t be any prouder,” Bridgforth said.
Hopkinsville (12-6-1) will play in Wednesday’s second semifinal against Henderson County, an 8-0 winner over Lyon County in Tuesday’s other quarterfinal. The Tigers will be looking to snap an eight-match losing streak to Henderson County dating back to 2018.
“With Henderson, we’ve got to come with all of the heart tomorrow. We have to bring the physicality and can’t leave anything out. We leave anything on the bus tomorrow,” Hutchison said.
