The Daviess County Lady Panthers hosted Owensboro Catholic Saturday for a primetime 9th District tilt that lived up to the billing.
Both teams came into the game coming off of losses so both were eager to right the ship but it was the Lady Panthers that emerged in the end as a first half goal held up in the 1-0 victory.
Midway through the first half, Lady Panther senior Avery McNeily sent up a shot that went over the Catholic keeper and into the back of the net to give DC the only lead it would need in the contest.
McNeily, one of three Lady Panther seniors, said she knew this season would be different with the amount of players they graduated a year ago.
“I was thinking I know how these girls play so I know we’ll still be good but it’s just a little difficult because we have young players but that doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “We still play hard like we did last year, maybe even harder than last year.”
McNeily is second on the team with five goals as Steeley Walker leads the team with six. Reagan Chinn (3 goals) and Brooke Schwartz (goal) are the only other Lady Panthers with goals this season.
McNeily said while the offense has sputtered at times, they still keep on pushing every night.
“It’s a lot harder since we don’t really have a lot of goal scorers on this team this year but we still try out best and come out pretty solid,” she said.
Daviess County has two games left on its schedule as they take on Ohio County Monday before taking on Owensboro in the regular-season finale Wednesday at home.
McNeily said fundamentals are key for the last week as they prepare for the postseason.
“We need to work on our touches a lot more,” she said. “Playing fast and I think we’ll do well in districts.”
The Lady Aces have three games the final week as they play Owensboro (Monday), McCracken County (Tuesday) and Meade County (Friday) to finish out the regular season.
Daviess County 1, Owensboro Catholic 0
OCHS (3-6) 0 0–0
DCHS (4-2-3) 1 0–1
Goals: DCHS: Avery McNeily (goal)
