Lily Moore came up clutch when the Lady Aces needed her most. Still nursing a sprained right foot, Moore scored her second goal of the night with only 1.3 seconds to play in double overtime, lifting Owensboro Catholic to a 3-2 victory over Meade County in the 3rd Region girls’ soccer tournament opener.
The Lady Aces (10-8-1) trailed by two goals midway through the second half in Monday’s game at Deer Park, but Moore and Ella Claire Goetz led the comeback effort that kept the season alive.
“Our team decided at halftime that we were not finishing our season today,” Moore said. “We realized that we needed to play a little harder in the second half and we did just that. From the back to the front, everyone played so well after we shook off the slow start.”
Moore’s game winner came off a through ball from Goetz, who scored the first goal of the night for Catholic. With just under 13 minutes remaining in the game, Goetz was gifted the ball directly in front of the goal after Meade County (12-6-2) keeper Elizabeth Burns mishandled a cross.
Goetz smashed the ball into the net, igniting the late rally. Moore leveled the game with six minutes to go on a smashing header from a Lady Aces’ corner kick.
Burns played an otherwise fantastic game for the Lady Waves, something Moore noted after the game.
“Their goalkeeper is amazing,” Moore said. “The only thing I was thinking at the end of the game was that I didn’t want to have to face her in penalty kicks because she is so good. I’m just so happy that we were able to win tonight and keep moving forward.”
Catholic head coach Lindsey Overby felt her team was fortunate to have prevailed in a tightly contested game.
“That was an intense battle,” Overby said. “With 20 minutes to go in the second half, I started to worry that the season was over for my seniors. Meade County played really hard, but I’m so proud of the heart and grit my girls showed tonight.”
Moving forward, Overby feels that the game plan is simple: to play 80 straight minutes of quality soccer.
“Tonight we got lucky,” Overby said. “Looking ahead to tomorrow, we are just looking for the girls to play hard right from the start. We want to put together a full game of quality soccer.”
Owensboro Catholic will now face off against Ohio County (13-6) with a trip to the 3rd Region championship on the line. The Lady Eagles prevailed 5-4 in the regular-season matchup. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Deer Park.
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2019 soccer coverage is presented by Worth Insurance Group.
