Midway through the first half Tuesday, the Owensboro Lady Devils had a corner kick that bounced around in front of the Apollo net until it was eventually cleared.
While it may have been a missed opportunity at the time, it was a foreshadowing of the moment in overtime when Owensboro’s Rylee Cox scored her second goal of the game off of a corner to give the Lady Devils a vital 2-1 district victory over Apollo at Shifley Park.
OHS coach Michael Lovett said it was great to finally get on the field and see an opposing team on the other side of the field.
“You’ve been doing stuff since June and now you get to do it against somebody else,” he said.
Neither team could find the back of the net in the first half as the game was tied 0-0 going into the final 40 minutes but it turned out it would take a little longer to find the winner of the first 9th District girls’ soccer contest of the season.
Teams exchanged goals as Apollo’s Alyssa Lawrence and Cox each scored for their squads in the half.
Lovett said he noticed his team was a step slower in the second and it led to the E-gals lone goal in the contest.
“Our lack of fitness definitely came into play,” he said. “I’m not taking anything away from their goal, it was a good play. We made a defensive mistake and they capitalized.”
Before the overtime period began, Lovett told his team they needed to make a statement because this season, anything can happen.
“We came out for overtime, I told them ‘nothing is guaranteed,'” he said. “This is the year of COVID. They could shut us down tomorrow.”
Lovett said they wanted to force the issue and keep possession in the overtime period and it lead to the corner and the eventual game-winner.
Both teams are back in action Thursday as Owensboro hosts Henderson County and Apollo hosts Butler County.
Owensboro 2, Apollo 1 (OT)
AHS (0-1) 0 1 (0)–1
OHS (1-0) 0 1 (1)–2
Goals: AHS: Alyssa Lawrence; OHS: Rylee Cox (2 goals)
Assists: OHS: Ella Mays
