Lexington Catholic drops LCA 4-0 in 43rd District semifinals

The Lexington Catholic girls’ soccer team breezed into the 43rd District Tournament semifinals on Tuesday, riding a relentless offense to a 3-0 victory over Lexington Christian at Lafayette’s Ishmael Stadium.

The No. 1 seed Knights went on the attack early, getting off three shots on goal within the first eight minutes. They broke through just over 10 minutes into the game when Caroline Hourigan sent a corner kick to the front edge of the box and Austin Wahle fired it into the left side of the goal.

“Caroline just hit a beautiful ball, and Austin was going to finish — you knew it,” said Lexington Catholic head coach Terry Quigley.

With just under seven minutes to play in the first half, LexCath junior forward and University of Kentucky signee Kennedy Tranter dribbled past two defenders and beat LCA goalie Grace Henry with a shot into the upper right corner of the net to give the Knights a 2-0 lead that they took into halftime.

Six minutes into the second half freshman, Maggie Corbett scored off a long pass from Tranter. Moments later, Tranter knifed into the box for her second goal of the game off a nice assist from Cassie Corbett for a 4-0 Catholic lead.

“Cassie chipped a soft pass into the box that Kennedy could handle, and Kennedy has the ability to see the keeper and not hit it at her. That’s one of her special gifts,” Quigley said. “Kennedy made a great shot, but Cassie was really the impetus for all of that.”

After a regular season that Quigley described as “up-and-down” the Knights appear to be rounding into shape right on time. They’ll be looking for their third consecutive 43rd District championship in Thursday’s finals at Lafayette.

“Everyone realizes now what time it is,” said Tranter. “It’s postseason, and we have to step up if we want to get to where we did last year and even farther.”

This story was originally published October 11, 2016 at 9:35 PM with the headline "Lexington Catholic drops LCA 4-0 in 43rd District semifinals."