Goal-scoring play seizes momentum and, maybe, some championship ice cream

At halftime in a scoreless 11th Region girls’ soccer finals, Paul Laurence Dunbar Coach Megan Poage told her team they needed a score in the first five minutes of the second half.

They did it in 20 seconds.

Ashlyn Fuller’s cross into the box found Audrey Rawls at the right post about 6 yards out, giving the Bulldogs the game’s first goal and momentum to carry them to a 2-0 victory over Henry Clay on Saturday night at Lexington Christian Academy.

“We listened to coach. She said ‘You’ve got the kickoff and you need a goal in the first five minutes,’ so that’s what we did,’ said Rawls, whose right-footed shot into the top of the net gave Henry Clay keeper Breland Finch no time to react.

Fellow senior Meron Roach played a role in the score, as well.

“Meron dummied it, which surprisingly enough we’ve been doing since we were 10 years old, letting it go between our legs,” Rawls explained. “Bo Lankster (their Lexingon FC club coach) used to tell us he’d get us ice cream if we ever scored off a dummy, and that’s the first one we’ve ever scored off of. So, I’m going to text him for some ice cream.”

Getting the first goal quickly in the half was key, Poage said, especially against a Henry Clay team with a defensive tenacity to hang in close games. The Blue Devils got to the finals by breaking a scoreless tie with just over a minute left in the semis against Lexington Catholic on Thursday.

“The faster you get up on a team, the harder it is for them to come back,” Poage said she told her team at half. “If they think they can stay in the game with a 0-0 tie then they are going to continue to press and continue to be up. It just takes that one split second, that one goal, (to negate that). … But (to do it) in the first 30 seconds, that’s the best feeling.”

Henry Clay tried to respond moments later as Corinne Leach made a run and clanged a shot off the right post. Later in the half, the Devils’ McClaine Huffman struck the left post and Dunbar keeper Morgan Turcotte gobbled up the rest.

But Dunbar got its second score and some breathing room when Roach received the ball outside the box turned toward goal. She touched it to Fuller as she crossed her path. Fuller continued her run across the box and hit a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner of the goal. Fuller was named tournament MVP.

“We came out, played hard and won every ball,” Fuller, a sophomore, said. “This is the farthest our seniors have gotten since they’ve been at Dunbar. It’s a big deal for all of us.”

In her first season, Poage led the Bulldogs to their first 11th Region title since 2014. But they’ll have little time to celebrate. Next up is a first-round semi-state match against the two-time defending state champion West Jessamine at home Monday. The two fought to a scoreless tie at the beginning of the season.

“I think it will be tough,” Poage said. “We both play kind of the same way. We both have a lot of great talent on the field. So, we’ll see who shows up on Monday and who wants it more.”

All-11th Region Tournament Team

Madison Central-Gabby Duerson; Madison Southern-Heidi Hylton; Franklin County-Olivia Hagg; Western Hills-Cristina Chavez; Frederick Douglass-Maliya Crump, Emily Coke; Lexington Catholic-Maggie Corbett, Tori McLaughlin; Henry Clay-Kori Beaumont, Corinne Leach, Elizabeth Hundley; Dunbar-Audrey Rawls, Erin Heil, Madison Smith, Ashlyn Fuller.

This story was originally published October 20, 2018 at 9:42 PM.