Girls’ 11th Region soccer preview: Lexington Catholic taking nothing for granted
Don’t expect Lexington Catholic Coach Terry Quigley and his second-ranked Knights to take anything for granted this week during high school girls’ soccer’s 11th Region Tournament even though they are heavy favorites to claim their fourth straight title by week’s end at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.
“The way soccer is, every game has its own character and flow,” Quigley told the Herald-Leader after LexCath defeated Lafayette 4-0 Wednesday in the 43rd District finals. “If we play Lafayette again, it could be totally different.”
Quigley has been on both ends of postseason upsets in the not-too-distant past.
The Knights’ current string of region titles began in 2019 as an underdog to a No. 1 Tates Creek team that handed LexCath a 4-1 defeat in the district finals a week prior. Tates Creek had only two losses all year and had also beaten LexCath 1-0 in the regular season. A dangerous but less experienced LexCath turned the tables on Creek in the region championship with a 1-0 victory.
A year earlier, Lexington Catholic looked to be among the favorites, as always, for the region title, but it got upended by a late Henry Clay goal in the region semifinals and exited with 1-0 loss to the Blue Devils.
“We can prepare as much as we want and still lose,” Quigley said. “We know that. The girls know it. That’s why they play so hard. It might be out of fear. They keep attacking because they might not win.”
Trying for their fourth straight state tournament appearance, the Knights have a ton of big-game experience and many of their senior leaders were key parts of the team that finished runner-up to Sacred Heart in the 2020 state championship game. That includes Olivia Bretz, Kylie May Stephenson, Mary Martin Hampton and two-time region player of the year Katherine Truitt, a Kentucky commit.
Quigley credits part of this season’s run of success to moving Truitt up to play in the midfield alongside Bretz, a combination that took a few games to figure out but has been a driving force since putting them together in the second half against Sacred Heart way back on Aug. 8. Bretz announced her commitment to Central Michigan on Friday.
“They’re growing together,” Quigley said. “They’re two kind of alpha players wherever they play, and, at first, they were deferring too much to each other, but now they just know where everybody should be.”
Henry Clay upsets 42nd’s top seed
Entering the 42nd District tournament with a 6-10-1 record, including a 2-0 regular season loss to top-seeded Frederick Douglass, gave the Blue Devils nothing to lose after beating Scott County on Wednesday to secure their spot in the district finals and next week’s 11th Region playoffs.
And so they didn’t lose.
Grace Plummer’s header off a corner kick with 13 minutes left in the game gave Henry Clay a 2-1 lead on Frederick Douglass and helped the Blue Devils secure the programs’ ninth straight 42nd District championship Thursday at Great Crossing High School.
“I just put it in the back of the net,” Plummer said. “It was a great kick by (Callie Bowes). She placed it right on my head and it felt great heading it in.”
Bowes gave Henry Clay a 1-0 lead in the first half on a chance created by another corner kick. Douglass answered 12 minutes into the second half with a score from Maddi Merryweather.
First-year coach Haydon Warren praised her team’s perseverance through tough losses and the adjustment period as everyone got to know each other.
“We definitely had some games this season that we wish we would have won,” Warren said. “We’re pretty much all healthy now and I think that helps a lot. The girls have just leaned on each other. It’s just team chemistry. There’s really not one thing on it other than they are good teammates to each other.
The girls’ 11th Region field
Here’s a closer look at the Girls’ 11th Region Soccer Tournament field, listed in order of their final regular-season Maher Rankings (among Kentucky’s top-100 soccer schools). The Maher Rankings computer formula rates teams based on a number of factors, including results, strength of schedule and historic data. Also listed are each team’s KHSAA’s RPI ratings, a similar, but not identical model.
Lexington Catholic
Maher/RPI: 2/2.
Record: 21-1-0.
How they got here: 43rd District champions. After a season opening 3-0 loss to No. 3 Sacred Heart, the Knights have rolled through their schedule, including a 4-0 win over No. 10 Lafayette in the district finals. LexCath has outscored its opponents 124-11 and bested top-25 opponents 11 times, including two wins over No. 4 Assumption, a 4-2 win over No. 6 Bethlehem and a 6-1 win over No. 8 Elizabethtown.
Notes: Mary Martin Hampton leads the team with 27 goals, followed by fellow senior Katherine Truitt, who has 15 goals to go with nine assists. Olivia Bretz, another senior, has 13 goals. Junior Zara McCarthy leads the team with 21 assists.
Lafayette
Maher/RPI: 10/34.
Record: 11-7-1.
How they got here: 43rd District runner-up. Lafayette has been runner-up to Lexington Catholic for three years running and lost 4-0 to the Knights in the district finals on Wednesday.
Notes: The Generals are 4-3 against this region field with wins over Great Crossing, Henry Clay and Madison Southern, a loss to Douglass and two losses to LexCath. Three juniors are among the team leaders in goals — Lily Simpson (11 goals, 13 assists), Aubrey Cloyd (10 goals, four assists) and Campbell Tippey (nine goals, seven assists). Senior Grecia Martinez (10 goals) rounds out the attack.
Frederick Douglass
Maher/RPI: 11/9.
Record: 16-4-2.
How they got here: 42nd District runner-up. Since a 2-3 start, the Broncos went unbeaten in 16 games, including a 12-game win streak. But that ended with a 2-1 loss to Henry Clay in the district finals.
Notes: Upset and eliminated each of the last two seasons by Sayre at districts, Douglass exacted revenge with a 3-1 win over the Spartans in Tuesday’s semifinals. Maddi Merryweather and Haley Flynn and lead the team with 15 goals each. Merryweather leads the team in assists with 10.
Madison Central
Maher/RPI: 35/16.
Record: 12-3-3.
How they got here: 44th District runner-up. The Indians fell in a shootout against rival Madison Southern 3-1 after a 0-0 tie in the district finals. Madison Central had defeated Southern 2-1 in the regular season.
Notes: Save Madison Southern, the Indians have not faced any other teams in the region field. Their leading scorers are Natalie Knecht (16 goals), Kally Lloyd (12 goals) and Maddie Eads (10 goals) with Payton Ardery’s seven assists tops in that category.
Great Crossing
Maher/RPI: 39/46.
Record: 13-5-0.
How they got here: 41st District champions. The Warhawks defeated Franklin County 4-0 in the district finals and went undefeated in district play.
Notes: Save their two wins over the Flyers, Great Crossing is 1-3 against teams in the region field with a 3-1 win over Madison Southern offset by a 3-1 loss to Henry Clay, a 4-0 loss to Douglass and a 3-0 loss to Lafayette. Kaylee Tyson leads the team in scoring with 21 goals.
Henry Clay
Maher/RPI: 45/99.
Record: 8-10-1.
How they got here: 42nd District champions. The Blue Devils got a pair of set-piece goals on corner kicks to upset top-seeded Douglass 2-1 in the district finals after topping Scott County 4-2 in the semis under first-year coach Haydon Warren.
Notes: The Blue Devils have struggled against good teams, losing twice to Lafayette, once to Douglass and taking a 7-0 defeat to LexCath back on Aug. 17. Freshman Callie Bowes leads the team with 11 goals, followed by junior Grace Plummer (seven) and senior Regan Spivey (six).
Madison Southern
Maher/RPI: 59/66.
Record: 9-6-1.
How they got here: 44th District champions. Captured the team’s first district title in 11 years with an overtime PK shootout win over Madison Central, avenging a 2-1 overtime defeat to the Indians in the regular season.
Notes: Against this year’s region field, Madison Southern has losses to Great Crossing (3-1), Lafayette (4-0) and Lexington Catholic (9-0). Mallory Duerson and Mallory Robinson lead the team in scoring with seven and five goals, respectively.
Franklin County
Maher/RPI: Not rated/153.
Record: 6-13-1.
How they got here: 41st District runner-up. Lost 4-0 to Great Crossing in the district finals and had lost nine of their last 10 before defeating Western Hills 2-0 in the district semis.
Notes: The Flyers were 0-4-1 in region games outside of their district, and other than Great Crossing they have not played any of the teams in this field. Amelia Wells and Meriah Price lead the team in scoring with 11 and nine goals, respectively.
GIRLS’ 11TH REGION TOURNAMENT
Tuesday’s quarterfinals
6 p.m.: Lafayette at Great Crossing
6 p.m.: Madison Central at Henry Clay
6 p.m.: Franklin County at Madison Southern
6 p.m.: Frederick Douglass at Lexington Catholic
Thursday’s semifinals
At Paul Laurence Dunbar
6 p.m.: Lafayette-Great Crossing winner vs. Madison Central-Henry Clay winner
8 p.m.: Franklin County-Madison Southern winner vs. Frederick Douglass-Lexington Catholic winner
Saturday’s finals
At Paul Laurence Dunbar
1 p.m.: Championship match
This story was originally published October 7, 2022 at 2:23 PM.
