‘Keep going after it.’ Madison Central fights to finish in OT, will face LexCath next.
The second semifinal match of the girls 11th Region soccer tournament was deep into overtime Wednesday. A cool night was getting chillier. A large, enthusiastic crowd was growing more anxious.
The score remained tied with no end in sight. One team would advance to the championship game. One team would see its season end.
Natalie Knecht was happy to keep playing for as long as it took.
The Madison Central junior was also determined to end the night with a win.
She assured that with her sudden-death goal during the second five-minute overtime period, giving the Indians a 2-1 victory over Frederick Douglass at Madison Southern High School.
“You just keep going after it,” Knecht said tearfully after the win. “One of my favorite coaches always says that you’ve just gotta keep going after it. And it’s just so rewarding to, you know, finally start scoring because I’ve been missing a lot lately. I’m so happy.”
Knecht’s overtime goal, her second of the night, sent Madison Central (14-3-1) into Saturday afternoon’s regional championship match against Lexington Catholic. The Knights defeated Great Crossing 4-0 in Wednesday night’s first semifinal match in Berea.
Madison Central, the 44th District champion, was in a 1-0 hole for much of the game after Frederick Douglass junior Jojo Williams scored for the Broncos (17-5-1) in the 17th minute of the first half. Third-year Madison Central head coach Steven Nash called his roster a second-half team and said he wasn’t concerned about trailing. All that mattered was finding a couple of chances to even the score.
“We’ve talked about it, and we talked about it for pregame,” Nash said. “It’s just one of those things where, just remain calm, be patient because we’ve been in this situation before. If we go down a goal, it’s OK. We can come out of it, right? And we did tonight.”
The equalizer arrived around the 25th minute of the second half, with Knecht scoring on a free kick after a collision, one of many in a high-pressure contest that featured several yellow cards.
Nash calls Knecht one of the best players he’s ever coached. Fellow Madison Central junior — and Wednesday’s winning goalkeeper — Abby Moore said Knecht’s goals brought her a sense of relief.
“That is my hero,” Moore said. “She literally digs us out all the time. And scores so well. Especially right when we need it, she’ll just go and she’ll get it and it’s just like, I don’t know. I just feel so happy.”
Knecht was just as complimentary of Moore, and called Moore her hero, as well. Frederick Douglass attacked all night, not giving Moore a chance to let her guard down.
“They have some really fast girls,” Moore said of Frederick Douglass, the 42nd District champs. “They’re really, really good. And my defense really helped me when I needed them to. ... In the second half we all came together and worked as a team instead of separately.”
An even bigger challenge awaits Saturday in Lexington Catholic, which has won four consecutive 11th Region championships and seven of the last eight.
“We need to have a positive energy and we don’t need to give up before the game starts,” Moore said. “We don’t need to think, ‘Oh, it’s Lexington Catholic. They’re amazing.’ We need to think, ‘We are a good team. We obviously made it to the region finals; we’re good.’ We need to show that and we need to prove that.”
Lexington Catholic rolls
Lexington Catholic has scored 10 goals and not given up any through its first two games of the 11th Region Tournament. Wednesday night’s 4-0 victory over Great Crossing followed Monday’s 6-0 win over Madison Southern.
The Knights (23-1-1) will go for their fifth consecutive regional title Saturday against Madison Central.
Bellarmine commit Sydney Elbert scored the first two goals for the 43rd District champions before senior forward Zara McCarthy gave Lexington Catholic a 3-0 halftime lead.
“It’s the biggest thing (for momentum),” Elbert said. “When we can finish right away, it boosts the team up and it deflates the other team. It gets us all together and we can just keep putting them in, and it really helps a lot.”
Great Crossing (11-7-3) adjusted defensively in the second half. Joanna Bryant’s goal with about seven minutes left was Catholic’s only score after halftime.
“Great Crossing played a great second half and put pressure on us,” Knights head coach Terry Quigley said. “But we we didn’t give up a goal, and we got that fourth goal, which is really nice. So I think both halves were different, but we got good things out of both.”
Girls 11th Region Tournament
Saturday’s finals
At Madison Southern High School
1 p.m.: Lexington Catholic (23-1-1) vs. Madison Central (14-3-1)
