Sometimes just a call one way or the other can determine the outcome in a tight match.
A University Heights Academy penalty kick with 22:00 to play was the difference Wednesday night as the Blazers claimed a 2-1 triumph in a highly-competitive contest with Madisonville-North Hopkins in the 2nd Region semifinals in Henderson.
The Blazers (17-6) will next face host Henderson County in the championship match on Thursday. The Colonels (10-10) advanced with a 7-1 victory over Hopkinsville in Wednesday’s late semifinal contest.
Cal Givens provided the game-winner for UHA in the semifinals after Madisonville was called for a hand-ball near the top of the box. The Maroons disputed that call.
A Madisonville defender attempted to head the bouncing ball low to the ground. It looked as though the ball may have touched his hand after going off his head, but all of the contact with the ball appeared to occur outside the penalty area.
Still, University Heights was awarded the PK, and converted to score what proved to be the decisive tally.
The teams had gone to halftime nil-nil, but the Blazers struck quickly after the break.
Hayden Hunt headed home a corner kick from the far side of the goal on a high serve in from Graham Conrad. That goal came just 40 seconds into the second half.
Madisonville came back to tie things with 27:53 to play when Kyle Yates headed the ball over the goalkeeper and into the far corner of the net. Trey Starks picked up the assist on the play.
Madisonville (7-11-1) held a slim 13-12 advantage in shots in what was an evenly-matched affair.
Hayden Fitzsimmons had five saves in the UHA net.
Adam Devine recorded five saves for Madisonville.
Thursday’s championship match will begin at 7:00. It’s a rematch of last season’s title tilt, which Henderson won 6-1.
3 Responses
Can you send me the video of the so called handball?
The video is up and posted, It was not In the box that much was clear but he had a clear handball (he also made an illegal attempt to bypass the back pass rule getting on the ground to play it to his keeper with his head which would have resulted in an indirect kick for heights in the box and possibly a card) I guess the pen was karma for a moment earlier in the game where one of uha's players was dragged down in the box and a moment where he was shoved down free on goal. Either way Madisonville should be proud of their performance their record is not representative there skill.
Heading the ball back to your own player isn't illegal. As long as he didn't kick it in the air then head it back. It doesn't count as trying to circumvent that law. He could have used his chest or knee for that matter and still would have been legal. Also there isn't a "you cant play it on the ground" law. So no its not karma if thats what they gave a pk for. That's a ref making a call he shouldn't have! If the handball was outside the box its a free kick only not a pk.