Boys’ state soccer semifinals: Covington Catholic gets back to title game
Forty-one seasons of boys’ soccer were played before Northern Kentucky earned a championship in the sport. Come Saturday, it could own two in a row.
Covington Catholic shook off a slow start to roll past North Hardin, 3-0, in the KHSAA Boys’ State Soccer Tournament semifinals Thursday night at Bryan Station.
The Colonels set a new school record for shutouts with their 17th this season, eclipsing the previous mark of 16 set during their state-championship run last year. That ties them for fourth-most in state history.
That team scored a school-record 109 goals. This edition, which is missing 18 seniors from a year ago, has scored 106 goals this season — as many as the 2015 team did after its state semifinal win over Fern Creek.
“It’s exciting to get back to the state finals again,” Covington Catholic Coach Jeremy Robertson said. “Would anybody would have said CovCath would be in the state finals again? No, no, nobody woulda gave a thought about that.
“We’re excited. This team still has a whole lot to prove. They’re looking forward to it.”
Covington Catholic got off 27 shots to just five for North Hardin, but couldn’t turn any into points until a Griffin Lamb goal off a Cole Stava assist in the 34th minute.
“They were a bit more defensive-minded on us,” Robertson aid, “which is okay but our guys have to recognize that and make adjustments during the game and not wait until halftime to make them or 20 minutes into the game.”
Stava scored in the 74th minute and Lamb added another in the 77th minute to help make it a comfortable win for the Colonels.
CovCath, ranked third in the newest Maher Rankings, will face No. 1 Daviess County in the state finals Saturday at Bryan Station. The Panthers defeated Paul Laurence Dunbar 5-1 in the first game Thursday night and have lost only one game this season.
“We’re gonna have our work cut out but that’s nothing new, especially the road we had to do to get to where we are right now,” Robertson said. “We’re looking forward to it.”
Josh Moore: 859-231-1307, @HLpreps
Covington Catholic 3, North Hardin 0
G—CC: Griffin 2 (34’, 77’), Stava (74’).
GK—CC: Cody. NH: Phoutharansy, Whiting (77’).
Records: Covington Catholic 22-5-2, North Hardin 19-9-1.
This story was originally published November 3, 2016 at 11:20 PM with the headline "Boys’ state soccer semifinals: Covington Catholic gets back to title game."