Henry Clay boys, Lexington Catholic girls are in the hunt for state soccer titles
The boys and girls state soccer tournaments return to Lexington this week with two hometown teams in the hunt for a championship.
Lexington Catholic’s 11th Region girls champions will face 13th Region champion North Laurel at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the KHSAA Girls State Soccer Tournament semifinals at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.
Henry Clay’s 11th Region boys title-holders will take on another school from the 13th Region, Oneida Baptist Institute, in the boys semifinals at 8 p.m. Thursday at Dunbar.
Tough road wins for Henry Clay and LexCath
Lexington Catholic’s path to the semifinals included a penalty kick shootout win at Highlands last Monday and a 2-1 victory at Campbell County on Thursday. The Knights rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit against the Camels with a free kick goal by Lucy de Movellan and a penalty kick score moments later by Joanna Bryant.
Due to the current rotation of the KHSAA’s tournament structure, the Henry Clay boys also had to go on the road for their first two tournament games and came away with a 2-1 win at Covington Catholic in the first round last Tuesday and a 6-0 win at Campbell County on Saturday.
Blue Devils forward Braden Cundiff scored the game-winner against CovCath with 10 minutes left in the contest. Curtis Blanche scored Henry Clay’s other goal to tie the game in the first half after the Blue Devils ceded an early lead to the Colonels.
Five Blue Devils scored in the rout of the Camels, led by Shukuru Hamisi’s two first-half goals. Henry Clay padded the lead with scores by Satchel Crosby, Connor Taylor, Marco Messerli and Jacques Shrensker.
Cinderella story for Oneida Baptist
A small Christian boarding school in Clay County, Oneida Baptist (19-4-0) is in the midst of a magical season just three years after not being able to field a team for two years.
The Mountaineers’ roster features 21 players from nine countries. The entire school had a listed enrollment of 81 students, according to KHSAA data from the 2023-24 school year.
Oneida Baptist has already faced one of the other semifinalists this season. The Mountaineers lost an 8-0 mercy rule game to No. 1 Louisville Collegiate in the All “A” Classic championship on Sept. 22. Collegiate will play Daviess County in the other semifinal match at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
Oneida Baptist followed its first ever region championship with its first two state tournament wins last week, beating Lawrence County 4-0 and Powell County 5-0. Hero Khajohnsupawatchara leads the team with 24 goals, besting the number of letters in his last name by five. Amadeus Martin and Enrique Gabardo have each scored 21.
In a Kentucky Today story following their All “A” run to the finals, Mountaineers coach Cory Steltenpohl praised his team’s perseverance this season.
“They never give up and they never back down,” Steltenpohl told Kentucky Today’s Keith Taylor. “There have been many times this year I have had players go down with injuries and five minutes later ask to go back in despite being hurt. That shows the rigor and effort that these boys put into their craft.”
Sizing up the matches
Ranked No. 3 in the state by MaxPreps.com, Henry Clay (19-3-4) presents one of the Mountaineers’ stiffest challenges yet. The Blue Devils are led by senior forward Messerli (16 goals, 17 assists), junior forward Cundiff (23 goals, 10 assists) and sophomore forward Hamisi (16 goals).
Ranked No. 2 in the final coaches’ poll, Lexington Catholic (21-2-4) will be looking to make its 10th appearance in a state championship game and its first since 2020. That year, the Knights defeated North Laurel 3-1 in the state semifinals. This is North Laurel’s first state tournament appearance since then.
The Knights are led by seniors Izzy Skinner (17 goals) and Sara-Kate Barnes (10 goals, 10 assists) and Bryant (11 goals), a junior forward committed to Miami (Ohio). North Laurel (13-3-0) has four players with 10-plus goals: Haley Combs (18 goals), Lauren Crouch (14), Presley Thompson (12) and Annabell Welch (10).
Lexington Catholic has been to more state finals (nine) than all but two schools — Sacred Heart (11) and South Oldham (nine). Those two teams will face each other in Wednesday’s other semifinal game at 4:30 p.m.
KHSAA Boys and Girls State Soccer Tournaments
At Paul Laurence Dunbar High School
WEDNESDAY’S GIRLS SEMIFINALS
4:30 p.m.: South Oldham (17-3-2) vs. Sacred Heart (22-1-2).
8 p.m.: Lexington Catholic (21-2-4) vs. North Laurel (13-3-0).
THURSDAY’S BOYS SEMIFINALS
4:30 p.m.: Daviess County (15-6-3) vs. Louisville Collegiate (23-2-0).
8 p.m.: Henry Clay (19-3-4) vs. Oneida Baptist (19-4-0).
SATURDAY’S GIRLS FINALS
4:30 p.m.: Championship game.
SATURDAY’S BOYS FINALS
8 p.m.: Championship game.
This story was originally published October 28, 2024 at 9:28 AM.
