Daviess County opened up their 3rd Region Tournament run with a bang, shutting out Meade County 6-0 thanks to a hat trick by Saw Mu.
“I thought we had a pretty good warmup. We struggled to finish in the first half, and we had several opportunities, but we just didn’t capitalize on them,” Daviess County Head Coach Dale Armistead said. “…But overall, it’s win and go to the next round. Win and go home. With how the draw happened, we have to play three district winners to win the region. But we are always up for a challenge, and that’s the challenge in front of us. That’s one game down, and now we go to the second.”
Silas Goebel broke the scoreless tie in the 26th minute when he found Mu for a 1-0 lead. 14 minutes later, Mu scored his second goal of the game, this time off an assist from Atley Thompson. At halftime, Armistead told his team to breathe and stick to the gameplan.
“I just told them to keep doing what we’re doing,” Armistead said. “Let’s just be more mindful when we are in front of the goal, take a deep breath, compose ourselves, and just punch it where the keeper isn’t. We did a much better job of that in the second half.”
Daviess County blitzed Meade County in the second half, scoring four more times. Gabe Sandefur started the barrage in the 46th minute, and nine minutes later Mu completed his hat trick. At the end of the second half, the Panthers were able to sub in and reacclimate some of their players who had been battling injuries. Graham Robinson scored in the 63rd minute off a feed from Ethan Dailey and then again in the 68th minute, unassisted.
Next up for the Panthers is a showdown Monday evening against Ohio County at 5:30 pm.
“We played them early in the season, and it was a 2-2 draw,” Armistead said. “It was a great game and a great battle. So, we don’t expect anything else. The guys are ready, and it could take 80-90 minutes, or it could go to penalties. It will be two good teams going at it, and it should be interesting. We are looking forward to it.”
