Owensboro Catholic girl’s soccer opened up the season with a dominant performance, blanking Apollo 9-0 behind Ashton Logsdon’s five goals.
It took the Lady Aces eight minutes to get on the board, with senior Ashton Logsdon getting the ball on the side of the field and outrunning the defense en route to a 1-0 lead.
Minutes later they struck again, as a shot was deflected and fell right to sophomore Annie Helwig who scored to give Owensboro Catholic a 2-0 lead.
The Lady Aces continued to control possession as the half went on, with Logsdon earning another goal later in the half after the goalie misplayed it.
Owensboro Catholic didn’t score during the remainder of the half despite numerous chances and walked into the second half up 3-0.
Despite owning a solid lead, Head Coach Andy Hines wasn’t pleased with their first half play, saying that they weren’t playing at the pace they should’ve.
“At halftime I said play two-touch,” Hines said. “Speed the game up. You work on those, you know how to move the ball and switch the point of attack… We did a very good job of that.”
His team responded when they returned to the pitch for the second half, scoring four goals in the first seven minutes.
Sophomore Virginia Young got the first one, with Logsdon scoring the next three to give her five goals on the day and Owensboro Catholic a 7-0 lead.
The Lady Aces controlled the game with their offensive play, in large part due to the duo of Logsdon and junior Madeline Hayden at the top of their attack.
“I know Maddie didn’t get the goals tonight, I think she had a couple of assists, but those two are just dangerous up top,” Hines said. “They have a nice combination. Maddie was frustrated she didn’t put a couple in and she had some good looks, but Ashton started out like this last year. She had three or four goals and then it was all Maddie. I told her to just be patient.”
Owensboro Catholic wasn’t done there either, with junior Katie Riney and Young both scoring later in the half.
This outpouring of offense was too much for Apollo, as the Lady Aces opened the season with a 9-0 victory.
After the buzzer sounded Hines said that his team did what he expected his team to do in the season opener after adjusting in the second half, saying they know what to do, they just have to put it all together.
“For me, I think we wanted to come in and get that first one,” Hines said. “Last year we had the first two and got smashed and came in our third one and won. So coming in and getting a nice win I think we accomplished what we needed to. I think it could’ve been better in the first half, but that’s soccer.”
Following an impressive year in 2020, Hines said for them to replicate that same success, they have to move the ball quicker and play tougher defensively.
“Moving the ball,” Hines said. “Moving the ball quicker and faster. Then defensively getting the tackles and being hard nosed… We need to get in there and defend hard.”
The Lady Aces will return to the pitch looking to move to 2-0 this weekend when they take on Murray at 9:00 a.m.
