A pair of teams that played a Saturday afternoon game in Marshall County in early September will meet again Tuesday night in the first round of the KHSAA Girls State Soccer Tournament in Owensboro.
University Heights Academy (19-2-1) will meet Daviess County (16-6-2) at 7:00 at Deer Park Elementary Field.
The teams met on Sept.6 at Marshall County’s DC Electric Lady Marshall County Classic, with the Saturday matinee finishing in a 2-2 tie. That match was played about 12 hours after the Lady Blazers suffered their first loss of the season to Marshall County.
Having seen Daviess County should help the Lady Blazers prepare for their first round match, but veteran coach Michael Parker says it’s more about focusing on what his team can and can’t do.
“I think for us to have a chance to win at the state level, we need to really zone in on what we can do and how we can stop them. I feel that we need to focus on what we can do ourselves and that will give us the best chance of winning,” he said.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
UHA outscored its opponents 16-1 to win its fourth straight district title. After a mercy rule win over Webster County in the region tourney opener, the Lady Blazers beat Madisonville-North Hopkins 2-0 and Hopkins County Central 2-1 on Alyssa Grise’s goal with 22 minutes left. It was UHA’s first region title since 2008.
Daviess County has not allowed a goal in the postseason. They defeated Apollo 6-0 and Owensboro 2-0 to claim the 9th District title and beat Meade County 7-0 and Owensboro again 3-0 to win their third straight region championship.
WHO TO WATCH
UHA is led in scoring by Kendall Hancock, who has scored 56 goals this season and 148 for her career. She scored both of the Lady Blazer goals in the September tie. Audrey Perry has 17 goals and a team-high 40 assists, and Skylar Cantrell has 37 goals.
Senior Mary Wiman leads Daviess County with 18 goals this season and 61 for her career. Sophomore Bella Coombs has 11 goals and had the game-tying goal against UHA last month.
DEEE-FENSE
Only two of UHA’s opponents – Marshall County (8) and Bishop Brossart (3) have scored more than two goals against the Lady Blazer defense. Eleven clean sheets are on the UHA stat sheet this season.
Goalie Maddie Williams returned from an injury suffered in the district championship to allow just one goal in two region games. Williams has a 0.9 goals allowed average – 20 goals in 22 games – and 3.9 saves a game.
In front of her is All-Region performer Ajae Oatts.
Daviess County has allowed 23 goals in 24 games, with 13 of those being clean sheets. Like UHA, the Lady Panthers have allowed more than two goals twice this season – five to Boyle County and four to Marshall County.
Goalie Kaelin Labhart has allowed 22 goals in 24 games and averages 4.2 saves a contest.
COMMON OPPONENTS
Henderson County – UHA beat the Lady Colonels 4-0 on Sept. 11, while Daviess County beat them 1-0 on Aug. 28.
Marshall County – Both teams lost to the host Lady Marshals in their DC Electric Lady Marshal Classic in early September. UHA lost 8-0, and Daviess lost 4-0.
Greenwood – UHA opened the season with a 2-1 win at Greenwood, while Daviess County and the Lady Gators played a 0-0 tie on Sept. 25
Ohio County – Both games against the Lady Eagles were mercy-rule wins. UHA won 8-0 on Sept. 23, and Daviess County scored a 9-0 win on Sept. 11.
Madisonville-North Hopkins – UHA beat the Lady Maroons twice (2-1 and 2-0), while Daviess County won 4-1 on Sept. 27.
South Warren – The Lady Blazers defeated South Warren 4-0 on Aug. 23, while Daviess County picked up a 3-2 win on Sept. 29.
WHO’S NEXT?
Like in the boys’ bracket, it will either be South Oldham (10-3-5) or Central Hardin (15-7) coming to Hopkinsville or Owensboro in the second round next Saturday, with the time to be announced later this week.
