Something had to give during Monday’s Girls Second Region soccer semifinal between Hopkins County Central and Trigg County.
The Lady Storm had given up 20 goals in 17 matches this season (1.1 per game), while Trigg County had scored 116 goals in 21 matches (5.5 per game).
In the end, defense prevailed as Hopkins County Central secured a 1-0 victory and earned its place in the region championship match for the first time.
Emma Vandiver sent a through ball to Jaci Childress with two minutes left in the half, with Childress banging home her 14th goal of the season for the match’s lone tally.
Trigg County tried to apply more pressure to begin the second half and just missed tying the match when a Lydia Redd shot hit the crossbar and bounded away.
Hopkins County Central’s main defensive game plan was to limit Trigg County’s Leiah Hite, who entered the semifinal match as the region’s top scorer and Trigg County’s all-time scorer. Kenzleigh Harrison drew the assignment to mark Hite wherever she went.
“I think we had a good game plan. I got a couple of films of Trigg and kind of saw some of their tendencies. Credit to number 44 (Hite), because she’s got a lot of goals. So we tried to limit her, what she does, and she’s really important to them. I thought Kenzleigh did a good job,” Lady Storm coach Ben Lutz said.
The match was even across the board, even after Childress’s first-half goal. Hopkins Central outshot Trigg 18-12, and the fouls were even at 5-5.
SJ Barnett, the hero in Hopkins County Central’s win over Henderson County on Saturday, made eight saves, while Kiley Slone, in her first season of soccer, made 12 saves for the Lady Wildcats.
As the match wore on, Lutz was hoping there wouldn’t be a repeat of Saturday’s victory when Henderson County evened the match with two minutes left in regulation.
“I was definitely having some flashbacks to Saturday. But the girls, they stayed strong, and I think we learned from that experience. I’m glad we didn’t end up giving up a late goal, and they kept fighting. So what more can a coach ask for?”
Trigg County’s season ended with a record of 16-4-2 – two wins shy of the school record for wins set in 2023.
Hopkins County Central (15-3) will meet University Heights Academy in Wednesday’s championship match at UHA’s Givens Field. It’s the first championship appearance for the Lady Storm, while UHA will be playing for its first region title since 2008.
UHA defeated the Lady Storm 2-1 on Sept. 25 in Hopkinsville. Lutz believes a winning game plan can be crafted for a championship win.
“I think we’ve probably learned a lot from what went on in that game. UHA is a good team; they’re undefeated in the region, but we’ll watch some film and see what we can pick up from that. Maybe change our game plan a little bit. We’ll have to look at that stuff and go from there,” he said.
