After missing out on the KHSAA State Girls’ Soccer Tournament in 2019, the Owensboro Catholic Lady Aces are headed back after taking down Daviess County Thursday evening.
The Lady Aces shutout the Panthers 3-0 to capture the 3rd Region Tournament title at Shifley Park in front of the biggest crowd of the season.
Catholic coach Andy Hines said he knew it was going to be a tough battle.
“Daviess County’s playing three back-to-back games probably didn’t help the case,” he said. “They played their hearts out. Anytime you play three games, it’s a hard thing. We knew that and we said the first 20:00, you’ve got to play as hard as you can. We did that and stepped up our game, won the 50/50 balls. It was a good game.”
For the older players on the roster, Hines in their third coach during their time as Lady Aces. He said he wasn’t sure if they ever saw the full picture when the season started.
“I think they’re excited,” he said. “I don’t know if they believed off the bat and they started to buy in. We’re still not there but I think we’re going to continue to improve. Still not there technically and tactically but we’re getting there.”
Near the midway point of the first half, Catholic’s Jenny Young put the Aces on the board and gave them the only lead they would need.
Hines said getting the first goal is always good for momentum.
“If they would have scored the first goal, they would have maybe changed it up a little bit on us, it would have been harder to play against them,” he said. “We scored the first goal and kept going.”
Less than 10:00 later, Mallary Bailey doubled the Ace lead going into halftime.
Sophomore standout Maddie Hayden made it 3-0 with 18:00 minutes left as the Lady Aces knew the 3rd Region title was in their grasp despite not playing their best game in Wednesday’s semifinal.
“After last night, I was a little worried,” Hines said. “I was like ‘Are we hurt or what?’ They were like we’re good and some of them weren’t in the game. I think maybe they thought it was going to be there, we were just going to get there. Tonight, they knew they had to play hard. It’s a little bit different game. Daviess County kind of plays a little more tactically, we play a little bit more technically, tactically and that plays into us.”
Senior defender Emmy Moore was vital in helping the Aces get the shutout.
“It’s so good,” she said of the feeling of winning again. “I’m honestly so excited. I knew we could come out and if we played hard we could get it done and that’s exactly what we did. I’m so proud of my teammates. They worked their butts off.”
Hines’ distinct voice can often be heard on the sidelines and Moore said her and her teammates welcome it as they’ve been through a lot during their careers.
“There’s been ups and downs but the whole time we’ve grown,” she said. “There’s good been good, there’s been bad but we made it here. That’s all that matters and we couldn’t have done it without him.”
DC beat the Lady Aces during the regular season but were able to bounce back and grab wins in the district and region final.
Moore said she has to give kudos to the Panthers.
“Daviess County, they played so hard and all credit to them,” she said. “Great game yesterday too. They were awesome against Ohio County. We’re proud. I’m proud we pulled it through.”
Owensboro Catholic now moves onto semi-state where it’ll take on Marshall County on Saturday.
Daviess County ends the regular season at 8-5-2.
Lady Panther coach David Sandifer knew his team had an issue scoring throughout the season.
“We really didn’t have enough offense,” he said. “That’s been our struggle all year. We struggled to find any offense continuity tonight. We did get better. It’s just one of those things where it’s hard to defend for 80:00. The girls did a good job. I think we picked up the effort in the second half. It was just a struggle once we gave up that goal, knowing we were having problems offensively. We knew it was going to be difficult the rest of the game.”
DC graduates a trio of seniors as two of them were banged up during Thursday’s match but both continued to battle on the field.
Sandifer said he knows the DC program means a lot to his three graduating players.
“We like to think and, of course, most programs like to think, that their teams are families,” he said. “These kids have put their heart and soul into this program for the last five years. Obviously, that’s not the way we want their season to end but all season these kids have fought through injuries and played with pain. Everybody’s in that shape at the end of the season and you’ve got to respect kids who take a knock and come back on and give it everything they’ve got. That’s what we try to do. Give the seniors a shot to go do something.”
