In District 9 girls’ soccer, the definition of a successful season varies depending on the team. For Daviess County and Owensboro Catholic, the crosshairs are set on a state championship. For Apollo and Owensboro, it’s more about improving and advancing to the Region 3 tournament.
A season ago, the Lady Panthers came up short of the KHSAA title by losing in the semifinals. The Lady Aces made four consecutive trips to the state playoffs before that, losing in the quarterfinals in 2013, the championship game in 2014 and the semifinals in 2015 and 2016.
The E-Gals and Lady Devils, meanwhile, are trying to get back to finishing the season with a winning record.
APOLLO
Head coach: Mason Head
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Last season: 8-12-2
Key Returners: Senior Shelby Taylor (23 goals, 9 assists), senior Natalie Smith (11 goals, 9 assists), senior Keely Eans (3 shutouts in goal)
Head coach Mason Head took part of the blame for the team’s struggles last years, saying he tried to force a style of play that didn’t that squad’s style. With an offseason to reflect, he’s planning to adjust and put the E-Gals in a better position to compete.
“Our goal this year is to compete for the region championship,” he said. “Admittedly, it’s a pretty lofty goal. We feel like we have a good enough team to make it to the region finals, and if we’re going to be there, we want to compete.”
Head said he wants his players get better every day, eliminate mistakes and learn a new thing each week to become a more well-rounded team. He wants to get to 10 wins, but if the team can improve, Head said he’ll be happy.
“A lot of coaches get caught up in wins and losses and they live or die by that,” Head said. “You have to define what success is. We have to keep in mind what our goals are, and are we on track to achieve those goals.”
DAVIESS COUNTY
Head coach: David Sandifer
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Last season: 20-6-0
Key Returners: Junior Chloe Hinchcliffe (22 goals, 13 assists), junior Kenlee Newcom (16 goals, 6 assists), junior Ashlyn Payton (13 goals, 10 assists)
For the Lady Panthers, a return trip to the state championship would be ideal, but head coach David Sandifer said they are first focused on the regional title.
“Our goals are the same every year,” he said “They are to contend for a regional championship and put ourselves in that position, and see what happens after that.”
Daviess County lost a couple of seniors who led the team with high point totals, but most of the team returns and Sandifer expects them to perform well.
“We have several kids that can score and several that can defend,” he said. “We expect all our kids to be productive.”
With the JV and varsity playing the same system, Sandifer said it helps with continuity and allow the Lady Panthers to have the same expectations each year.
“We expect to be ready to go right out of the gate,” he said. “We expect to perform whether it’s the first game of the season or the 20th game of the season.”
OWENSBORO
Head coach: Casey Cundiff
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Last season: 6-12-2
Key Returners: Senior Aubrey Schueler (11 shutouts in goal), junior Hadley Duvall (11 goals), sophomore Rylee Cox (10 goals)
The Lady Devils expect to improve on last season by relying on a senior group to be the foundation for the team, head coach Casey Cundiff said. They also have few younger players he expects to step up and provide a different dynamic than what Owensboro has been used to.
“We definitely want to win some more games this year, but I think that’s going to happen because we’ve got a good core group of players that have been in the program for a while,” he said. “We’ll be able to use a lot of large numbers on the field. If we sub, we’re not going to lose anything when somebody comes in.”
By having a larger group than normal, Cundiff said the coaching staff has been able to experiment with some different lineups in scrimmages.
“We used the preseason to see what we’ve got,” he said. “This year we’ve got a good balance and we can do a lot of different things. We’ve got some ideas of what we want to do, but we may get in the game and scrap it.”
OWENSBORO CATHOLIC
Head coach: Kelli Brannock
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Last season: 19-3-2
Key Returners: Senior Genarose Jones (11 goals, 9 assists), senior Lauren Eyre (13 assists), junior Gabrielle Sutton (7 goals, 7 assists)
The Lady Aces haven’t officially stated they want to make it back to the title game, but head coach Kelli Brannock said it’s most likely going to end up on the board.
“We haven’t finalized our team goals yet, but generally speaking, our expectations are obviously to have a successful regular season and be peaking when we head into the postseason,” she said. “Winning another All-A state championship will surely make the final list.”
Brannock said her philosophy and the way she leads the team is every year is a new season. Owensboro Catholic is planning to build off the base from last year, but Brannock said they are always adjusting and need to adapt to the current year’s team.
She said no matter their goal, the Lady Aces will build off each game in order to grow as a team.
“We look to build off each game,” she said. “We’re not expecting to be in peak form next week, but I like the attitude and effort I’ve seen so far.”
