11th Region soccer: Lexington Catholic girls, Paul Laurence Dunbar boys headed to state tournament

It started the season out a little slower than it might have liked, but the Lexington Catholic’s girls’ soccer team is back where it wanted to be: the state tournament.

LexCath defeated Henry Clay 2-0 in the 11^th Region championship at Woodford County on Saturday night, putting the Knights in the state tournament field for the second consecutive season. Catholic became the first team to repeat as 11^th Region champs since Tates Creek won back-to-back regionals in 2012 and 2013.

Junior Kennedy Tranter and freshman Maggie Corbett scored goals in the opening minutes of each half. Tranter was named MVP of the tournament and has been Catholic’s signature threat for much of the season, but Corbett has become increasingly more involved in the offense since she was recently moved from center back to forward.

“I thought our whole team played really well,” Corbett said. “All the seniors in the back had a really good game for all the tournament.”

She was right. Lexington Catholic (15-8-2) allowed just one goal the entire tournament, and it came late in an 11-1 win over Berea in the first round. Unofficially, the Knights allowed just six shots by Henry Clay (16-3-1) while coming up with 13 of their own on offense.

Three starting senior defenders and team captains – Austin Wahle, Casey Neuer and Cassie Corbett – were named to the all-tournament team. The fourth, Caroline Hourigan, should have been there too but there was only room for three girls, Coach Terry Quigley said.

With that in mind Quigley elected Hourigan to receive the post-game interview treatment.

“Something we’ve been working on is stepping to the ball and making sure they don’t get those shots off, especially from the outside because that’s what (Henry Clay’s) great at,” Hourigan said.

Lexington Catholic started the season 1-4-2 against a schedule that included Sacred Heart, Boyle County, Notre Dame and several strong out-of-state schools. The Knights have now won eight straight since a 1-0 loss to the same Henry Clay team they defeated Saturday.

The Knights reached the state finals last year. This year’s road will start at home against Clark County on Monday.

“I wanna go to the finals,” Maggie Corbett said with a laugh.

Dunbar boys state-bound

Chase Dawson scored the game-deciding goal off an Eddie Andereda assist midway through the second half to send Paul Laurence Dunbar back to the boys’ state tournament with a 1-0 win over Woodford County in the 11th Region championship at Bryan Station on Saturday night.

This makes Dunbar’s seventh trip to the state tournament in the last eight seasons. Henry Clay snapped a six-year streak by the Bulldogs in last season’s 11th Region finals.

“It was a tight game the whole way,” said Dunbar Coach Todd Bretz, the state’s winningest soccer coach, in a phone interview. “ ... It feels great. Any time you can get out of this region it’s a big deal.”

Campbell County plays at Montgomery County for the 10th Region boys’ title at 2 p.m. Sunday. Dunbar (16-4-2) will host the winner of that game on Tuesday.

This story was originally published October 22, 2016 at 10:21 PM with the headline "11th Region soccer: Lexington Catholic girls, Paul Laurence Dunbar boys headed to state tournament."