The Lady Tigers’ three-year regional soccer championship string came to an end Monday night — but it didn’t go down without a fight.
Trailing 4-2 in the second half, Caldwell County’s girls scratched out a pair of goals in the final 10 minutes to force overtime. But University Heights Academy came up with a score in sudden-death overtime to deal the Lady Tigers a 5-4 setback in semifinal action at the Stadium of Champions in Hopkinsville.
“If anyone was at the game or listened to it on the radio, I’m sure they can all say without a doubt our girls gave it all they had,” noted Caldwell head coach Josh Ray. “To come back in the final few minutes of a regional tournament game and score not once, but twice, is an awesome thing that very rarely happens in any sport.”
Savannah Pepper converted a penalty kick in the 70th minute to pull Caldwell within a goal.
Pepper than set up Mikayla White with under two minutes left in regulation and White scored to tie the game and force overtime.
“You could just tell that when Savannah got that PK, all the girls were going to go hard until they tied it up,” said Ray. “In overtime, both teams had some good scoring chances, but the keepers played very well, even though there were several goals scored in this game.
“We were a couple of minutes away from going into penalty kicks when one of their players collected a deflected ball and was able to bend it around our diving keeper and put it in the net.”
The teams battled through two 10-minute overtime periods without scoring. A 5-minute sudden-death period passed with the score still knotted.
However, UHA got a goal from Sara Allen 50 seconds into the second 5-minute sudden death overtime to end the contest and avert a shootout.
“We were all disappointed that we didn’t have a chance to defend our regional championship in the final on Thursday, but you can’t say we didn’t go down without a heck of a fight,” said Ray. “I thought overall the level of play that our girls were able to get to throughout this season says a lot about a young team.
“It took a team of six or seven seniors and a couple lucky bounces to beatus, but the future is really bright for our program and I’m really proud of the way these girls came together and finished this season as a team.”
Caldwell, which ends the season at 9-5-4, struck first in the regional semifinal clash. Renee Laurent scored off a Pepper assist in the 25th minute to give the Lady Tigers a 1-0 lead.
However, the Lady Blazers got goals from Sara Allen (31st minute) and Jessica Harper (38th minute) to take a 2-1 lead to halftime.
Pepper tied the game off an Ashlea Holt assist in the 44th minute, but UHA scored the next two goals to go up 4-2.
Eden Mack scored off an assist from Harper off a corner kick in the 54th minute. Shayna Hudson scored in the 58th minute on a corner kick assist from Harper.
Both teams had shots hit the post in overtime before UHA finally nailed the game-winner.
It’s Caldwell’s first loss ever to University Heights in girls soccer. The Lady Tigers lead the all-time series 6-1-1.
UHA (14-4-2) will play in the regional final for just the second time ever. The Lady Blazers will take on Hopkinsville, which defeated Trigg County 2-1 in overtime in Monday’s other semifinal contest.
Trigg County (9-10-1) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 52nd minute on a goal by Laykn Brooks.
Hopkinsville (15-4-1) tied the game on Payton Bucko’s goal in the 62nd minute.
Bennett Peck scored the game-winning goal with 20 seconds left in the first 10-minute overtime period. Hopkinsville’s defense then held off several Trigg scoring opportunities to advance.
The championship game is slated for 8 p.m. Thursday.
