It was three weeks to the day that the Owensboro Lady Devils last took the field, which made Senior Day on Saturday not only special but bittersweet as well.
The Lady Devils’ last contest came on Sept. 12 in a 4-0 victory over Warren East but a COVID case for the Lady Raiders shut down the Owensboro program for a few weeks.
The layoff didn’t hinder the Lady Devils’ ability to get a victory as they beat McLean County 4-0 at Shifley Park.
OHS coach Michael Lovett said getting back on the field was special.
“It was amazing,” he said. “It’s been three long, miserable weeks for us. There’s no easy way to put it. You control the controllables and what happened to us was beyond our control. We stayed connected, we had our Zoom meetings and things in between time to keep our connection and then to get back out here and get out feet under us, so to speak, was awesome.”
The Lady Devils led wire-to-wire as they led 3-0 after the first with goals from Ella Bratcher, Evelyn Pierson and Rylee Cox, and even produced a scoring opportunity inside the first minute of the game.
“That’s something we really train is to go after a team in the first five minutes no matter if we have the kickoff or not,” he said. “It’s easier when you do have the kickoff because you can dictate that pace. It was unfortunate we didn’t put it in but just to have the chance to let ourselves know we’re there, we’re playing. Let’s go and score a goal. It was good.”
Cox, a senior, said when the news came out a few weeks ago that they’d have to be shut down, she only had one thought on her mind.
“The minor setbacks are always going to help us out with bigger comebacks,” she said. “I was really looking forward, I was pressuring my team to get out there, do whatever you can to stay in shape and just stay motivated.”
To be back on the field with her two fellow seniors on Saturday, Cox said she was looking forward to the moment.
“It was an awesome feeling,” she said. “I love being out here. It’s what I looked forward to for that whole three weeks of being out, this day.”
The second half was scoreless until Sydney Lovett converted a penalty kick in the closing seconds to put an exclamation point on the 4-0 win.
Leading up to the game, the Lady Devils were able to practice at the beginning of the week.
Lovett said it was imperative they get back on the field.
“It was good, it was kind of like preseason all over again in the middle of the season again,” he said. “We’re doing fitness and we’re trying to get our way about us. We scrimmaged Tuesday and couldn’t make it through a full scrimmage. I said this is the reason why the state allowed us this week and we need to utilize it to get back in there … The new few days they really focused on their fitness and their execution and it showed today.”
McLean County was the originial opponent for the Lady Devils on Senior Day and Lovett said he’s grateful for the relationship with Lady Cougars coach Ricky Humphrey.
“We appreciate the camaraderie between the teams,” he said. “I really appreciate him coming and doing this. They didn’t have to and they did. It gave our seniors a great send off.”
For the Lady Devils’ three seniors, Lovett said it was great to finally have thier day.
“It’s been tremendous,” he said. “It’s been a weight lifted off of their shoulders … I could only imagine what the spring sports went through I was like, it’s not going to happen to us, we’re actually going to play and we got to play. When they said we couldn’t play for a couple of weeks, they were gutted.”
Next up on the schedule for Owensboro is a bout with Owensboro Catholic on Monday then another 9th District matchup with Daviess County on Wednesday.
Lovett said practice is key for their preparation.
“We need to execute,” he said. “The things that we practice and we train, we didn’t execute fully today. Days like this, and they feel it, we’ll come tomorrow and we’ll work on getting our execution.”
Owensboro 4, McLean County 0
MCHS (1-9) 0 0–0
OHS (3-1) 3 1–4
Goals: OHS: Ella Bratcher (goal), Evelyn Pierson (goal), Rylee Cox (goal), Sydney Lovett (goal)
