Lexington Catholic, Madison Central wins set up rematch for girls 11th Region soccer title
When Lexington Catholic freshman Harper Ward saw her teammate’s shot on goal deflect off the Henry Clay keeper’s gloves and onto the crossbar, she kept running on the chance it might fall to her.
“I was thinking, ‘Go! Go!” Ward said of the moment.
Ward arrived in time to get her right foot to the ball before the Blue Devils’ Hannah Cooper could snatch it up. The shot broke a scoreless tie with 25 minutes left in the Knights’ eventual 2-0 win over Henry Clay in the girls 11th Region soccer tournament semifinals at Franklin County High School on Thursday night.
Senior midfielder Sara-Kate Barnes teed up teammate Maggie Meegan for the initial shot, a rocket from outside the 18-yard box that created Harper’s opportunity.
“I thought Maggie’s was going in. And then I saw the keeper deflect it. And then I saw Harper, so then I got excited,” Barnes said. It was Ward’s third goal of the postseason.
But it had been a frustrating first 55 minutes for the Knights, who had more possession and more opportunities to score than the Blue Devils (9-8-3), but couldn’t put Henry Clay away or relax.
“It was nerve-wracking going into half 0-0, but they talked to us and said keep going toward the goal and one will come eventually,” Barnes said.
A chance to breathe would not come until Ryan Cornelius put LexCath up 2-0 on an assist by Izzy Skinner with 3:25 left in the game.
“They were very dangerous,” LexCath coach Terry Quigley said of the Blue Devils, the team who broke the Knights’ 36-game win streak against their Lexington rivals with a 1-1 tie on Aug. 28. Lexington Catholic still hasn’t lost to a Lexington team since 2019. “Sometimes when you out-possess a team, you feel real comfortable. You think this is going to work for you. But then they would attack us and we would be really threatened by them. It wasn’t a comfortable possession game.”
Next, Lexington Catholic (18-2-4) will have a chance to avenge the region championship loss they suffered at the hands of Madison Central last year. The Indians stunned the then-No. 1 ranked Knights in a game that went to a penalty kick shootout.
This year, LexCath is ranked No. 2 in the statewide coaches poll, while Madison Central rates at No. 41 in the KHSAA’s RPI standings. Quigley said he hasn’t thought about that matchup, yet. He said he’d discuss Madison Central with his team on Friday.
“We’re just excited to be still playing,” Quigley said.
The region finals against Madison Central were to kick off at 11 a.m. Saturday at Franklin County High School.
Madison Central tops Lafayette in PK shootout
Madison Central is no stranger to scoreless ties that go into overtime in the postseason.
That’s how the Indians (16-4-1) won the 11th Region championship last year over Lexington Catholic.
So, when its semifinals match against Lafayette went to penalty kicks Thursday night at Franklin County High School, Madison Central’s players had all the confidence in the world.
“We’ve got a great keeper. Abby (Moore) is very clutch,” junior midfielder Natalie Knecht said. “And we practice (PKs). We’ve got 10 (players) who can put them away almost every time.”
Knecht was the first of four Madison Central players who got to kick in the shootout against Lafayette. They all made their shots, helping the Indians claim a 4-2 shootout victory that included a Lafayette miss wide left and a Moore save.
The win came despite consistent pressure by Lafayette in Madison Central’s defensive end of the field.
“It took some reorganization. We eventually switched to a 4-4-2 (formation) which helped a lot,” Knecht said. “We had to get the momentum back.”
Perhaps bigger than Moore’s penalty kick performance in the shootout was a first-half save against the Generals. Moore came off her line and denied a breakaway shot by Lafayette’s Chloe Crovo.
“I just had my arms out. I was in a good position, too,” Moore said. “She played it right to my hand, and I knocked it out. It was like I got a high off that and I think that carried me through the game.”
Lafayette (9-11-1) had advanced to the semifinals by upsetting No. 8 Frederick Douglass 2-0 on Tuesday at The Farm.
