Upsets highlight district tournament finals in Lexington

The top seeds in both 43^rd District soccer tournaments fell on Thursday night.

Lexington Catholic defeated host Paul Laurence Dunbar in the boys’ 43^rd District finals. The game was tied 1-1 after regulation and two five-minute overtime periods, resulting in a round of penalty kicks that Catholic won, 4-3.

The Knights, rated 12^th in the latest Maher Rankings, won their first district title since 2009 and their first 43^rd District title (their last one was over Dunbar in the 27^th District). It was also the program’s first district title under head coach Jonathan Kincheloe, who’s in his fifth season leading the program.

Dunbar, ranked No. 2 in the state behind St. Xavier, scored first on sliding goal in the box by Pedro Jiminez in the 45^th minute of play. Two minutes later, Dunbar was called for a hand ball in the box, resulting in a penalty kick opportunity for Catholic, allowing Brian Banahan to deliver an equalizer for the Knights.

In the girls’ tournament over at Lexington Christian, Tates Creek — ranked 24^th — upset No. 5 Lexington Catholic, 2-1, snapping the Knights’ streak of 23 consecutive wins against district foes. Alexis Burdine struck first to get LexCath on the board in the 13^th minute but Creek answered with goals by Carsyn Prigge (25^th minute) and Shae Robertson (38^th minute) to take a halftime lead that it wouldn’t relinquish.

Henry Clay swept the 42^nd District finals. The girls defeated Scott County, 7-1, to secure their fourth straight district crown. The boys also defeated Scott County, 4-0, to lock up their eighth consecutive district title.

Both sets of finalists in the 42^nd and 43^rd District tournaments, along with the finalists from the 41^st and 44^th District tournaments, qualified for their respective 11^th Region tournaments by virtue of reaching the district finals. The draws for both the boys’ and girls’ tournaments will be held on Saturday.

This story was originally published October 12, 2017 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Upsets highlight district tournament finals in Lexington."