Frederick Douglass firmly atop 42nd District after girls soccer win at Henry Clay

It’s tough for external expectations to wilt when your program is coming off two straight district-tournament titles. But Frederick Douglass seemed ripe for slippage in the 42nd District after graduating 90 % of its offensive production from last year’s team.

Douglass didn’t get the memo. The Broncos (13-3-1) for the fourth season in a row locked up the No. 1 seed in their district, this time with an emphatic 3-0 win Wednesday night at Henry Clay (8-4-1). It was their 10th win in a row and the eighth time in the past nine games they didn’t allow a goal.

That was a particularly notable achievement against the Blue Devils; coming into Wednesday night, they’d scored more goals (44) than any other team in the 11th Region. Great Crossing, which competes in the 41st District, was the only other team in the region ranked among the state’s top 50 goal-scorers (39).

“We knew that their offense was potent,” Douglass head coach Megan Adkins said. “We knew that they have 11 seniors, they’ve got a lot of talent. We lost a good group last year, and we’re rebuilding, figuring things out.”

Probably the two biggest points of concern for Douglass coming into the 2025 season: from where its goals would come and who would be the last line of defense in front of its goalkeepers, all young underclassmen. Y’know, little stuff.

Sophomores Laila Hudspeth and Elle Stephan entered the night with 11 goals apiece to pace the Broncos through 16 games. Ella Flynn, a senior, joined as a co-leader after putting a free kick into the net in the 32nd minute.

“This was the biggest game of our district (schedule), so coming into this, in practice, we talked a lot about winning our one-on-ones and winning your part of the field,” Flynn said. “I think that we implemented that really well.”

Flynn’s was the second first-half goal for the Broncos; junior Riley Kate Porter struck on a 30-yard boomer just eight minutes into the match. Anna Adkins added her sixth goal of the season on a header that ricocheted off a teammate’s leg on another free kick in the 57th minute.

After fielding strikers the past couple seasons who could score from just about anywhere, Douglass has worked to become set-piece masters. The Broncos earned a flurry of opportunities against the Blue Devils, whom they’ll likely face again next month in the postseason.

“I think we all know what it means to play Clay, especially for us; they’ve been our rivals for so many years,” said Addie O’Ferral, a junior and the torchbearer for Douglass’ reshaped back line. “I think we did really well at stepping up to the plate, doing our jobs and doing what we needed to do to get the job done. And that’s what we did.”

Douglass was 1-1-1 through a week of play, dropping its second game 2-0 to Paul Laurence Dunbar and tying against Dixie Heights 2-2 three days later. The Broncos split games against 42nd District rival Bryan Station and Woodford County before a weekend trip to Gatlinburg, where they finished 2-1 against a trio of Tennessee foes.

Since that trip, Douglass has allowed just one goal in nine games.

“I told everybody it was gonna take time,” Adkins said. “Don’t give up after your first loss. We lost the second game of the year to Dunbar and I told them, ‘Dunbar’s gonna be a good team, they brought everybody back, lots of young talent.’ We just had to figure out who we are and not worry about what everybody else is doing.”

If they maintain their focus, these Broncos might be able to do something none to date have gotten to do: play in the state tournament.

“We’ve come up short in the end of our seasons, especially in regions the past couple of years when we wished and know we could have gone further than that,” O’Ferral said. “That’s a big thing we’re striving for.”

This story was originally published September 18, 2025 at 5:58 AM.