Dunbar snaps Lexington Catholic’s 46-game unbeaten streak against city rivals
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- Dunbar defeated Lexington Catholic 4-1, ending a 46-game city win streak.
- Kaleigh Potts scored twice as Dunbar secured the No. 1 seed in District 43.
- Despite key absences, LexCath maintained No. 2 rank in state after the loss.
Earlier this week, Paul Laurence Dunbar girls soccer coach Jeff Stone said this of rival Lexington Catholic:
“Every year, somebody thinks they have a shot, and it turns out they don’t. So, we’ll just keep trying.”
For at least a night, the city’s teams will try no more. Stone’s Bulldogs (13-2-1) on Wednesday became the first in Lexington to knock off the Knights (14-3-1) since 2019, and at least on paper it wasn’t close: Dunbar 4, LexCath 1.
But final scores can sometimes be misleading.
After visiting LexCath cut the lead to 3-1 late in the second half, the Knights kept pouring on pressure and got another scoring opportunity from a corner kick that bounced inside the 6-yard box for seemingly an eternity before Dunbar keeper Joliet Alexander gobbled it up after she went to ground.
“My heart was out of my chest. I was, like, so surprised,” Alexander said. “My defense tried to clear it, but she was facing goal, so I just went for it.”
A few minutes later, Sophie Griffith headed through the final goal on a corner kick to ice things for Dunbar, which by virtue of the victory also earned the No. 1 seed in the 43rd District tournament.
Stone suspects the Knights — who coming into the week were ranked No. 2 in the Rundell Rankings and the latest coaches poll — will be in prime form in a likely rematch next month.
“We got a little lucky tonight,” Stone said. “We got a goal at the very beginning off a corner. So we got the favorable bounce a little bit tonight. I have no doubt in my mind that (LexCath coach Terry) Quigley and (assistant Megan) Skinner and that coaching staff is going to have them seeing red in a couple of weeks.
“Hopefully we get another chance to play them. But I’m super proud of my girls. We haven’t had that much success this season against a top-rated team, so it was good for us and our confidence to come out and show that we actually can play with one of the top five teams in the state.”
In addition to an olimpico goal off Aubrey Thuringer’s leg in the fourth minute, Dunbar got two scores from Kaleigh Potts, a multi-sport standout who transferred from Tates Creek before the school year. Potts scored off a cross from Meredith Simpson in the 17th minute and rocketed her second goal from 20 yards away just a few minutes into the second half.
Dunbar wasn’t a slouch in the rankings: the coaches had it No. 9 overall coming into the week while Rundell, a nascent data-based ranking system, rated them 18th in the state. The Bulldogs rose 10 spots following their win against LexCath
The Knights remained No. 2, behind only defending state champion Sacred Heart. LexCath graduated six starters from last year’s team — the runner-up to Sacred Heart’s champ — and lost its returning five to offseason knee injuries.
Despite those circumstances, Lexington Catholic remained Lexington Catholic. But its city streak is done.
“I’m just so happy for the girls, so proud of the girls, how hard they fought,” Stone said. “But if we just go back for a second and look at what Catholic’s overcome — six or seven ACL injuries in the offseason — and they still put together the No. 2 team in the state, and they’re still the team to beat in the city and the region and probably one of the teams to beat the state.”
That remains to be decided. As of Sept. 17, Dunbar is 1-0.
This story was originally published September 18, 2025 at 5:36 AM.
