Girls soccer teams will be competing for all the marbles when the 9th District Tournament opens up on Monday.
Owensboro Catholic
The Lady Aces come into district play with lofty expectations, as they hope to win back-to-back 9th District Championships.
Owensboro Catholic closed out the regular season with an overall record of 16-5, while finishing with a district record of 6-0.
After their final game on Sept. 30, the Lady Aces took time to rest up before getting back to work to help set them up for a strong performance all week long.
“We rested,” Hines said. “We’re getting ready to practice tonight (Sunday), so we’re looking at trying to move the ball out wide and getting the crosses in the box.”
Despite being able to rest players, Owensboro Catholic is still a little banged up and will be resting a few players against Apollo.
With that in mind, Head Coach Andy Hines said he expects a number of players to fill in where it’s needed.
“The other night against Henderson Ella Claire Goetz was really really good,” Hines said. “I think Gracie Johnson has played a little bit off the bench this year and I’m hopeful that she will step up and do a good job on the wings. She’s very fast and then Jahaira Ward [I expect to step up as well].”
The Lady Aces offense has been potent all season long, with only five games this season in which they scored less than two goals.
So in order to ensure that they are playing at the highest level, Hines said that they’ve gotta be laser sharp defensively.
“Sometimes with us we make our own mistakes in the back,” Hines said. “When we possess the ball sometimes we hit the ball right to the offense. So being better in the back and possessing the ball and finding our players up higher is one thing. Then defensively just making sure we’re compact, putting pressure on the ball and slowing the ball down.”
Owensboro Catholic’s ultimate goal is to be hoisting some hardware at the end of the week and in order to do that Hines said they can’t stray away from how they’ve played all season.
“The key for us to hold up the trophy I think is continuing what we did in the regular season with the district,” Hines said. “Moving the ball quickly, getting opportunities and defending as a unit. I think all of those keys will get us back to winning the trophy again. I think we would be disappointed if we didn’t pull out the trophy again.”
Owensboro
Having fallen to Daviess County twice this season, Owensboro is looking to be laser sharp and avenge its losses when they open up the 9th District Tournament on Tuesday.
The Lady Devils finished the regular season with an overall record of 9-7, while they finished 2-4 in district play.
After wrapping up the regular season on Sept. 30, Owensboro Head Coach Michael Lovett said they have been taking time to heal so they can be fresh for tournament play.
“We have been preparing for District by rest and recovery, and training this weekend,” Lovett said. “With the injuries that we have, we have been focused on our overall health while preparing for the toughest competition of the season.”
The Lady Devils fell to Daviess County 6-0 and 3-0 in their two matches this year and Lovett said that they have taken things from those matches to help them prepare for the third one defensively.
“The biggest thing we learned from our previous two games against DC is we must capitalize on our chances and not allow them so much freedom in the middle of the field,” Lovett said.
They will be faced with the challenge of filling in shoes defensively due to injuries, something that Lovett and his staff have been working to solve in practice.
“We are banged up, no one is truly healthy at this point in the season, and we lost center back Abby Beck for the year last week due to injury so we have been trying to find the right combinations that work for us defensively,” Lovett said.
Despite this, Owensboro has a 9th District Championship in its sights. But in order to do that, Lovett said that they must take things one game at a time and focus on playing its best soccer of the season against the Lady Panthers on Tuesday.
“For us to win a District Championship would take four perfect halves of soccer,” Lovett said. “We want to focus on DC and only DC because that is the most important game of the year and the only one that matters,” Lovett said. “Winning that game would obviously change our focus, but until Tuesday evening, we are working on competing with and challenging DC for a District Tournament win.”
Daviess County
The Lady Panthers are taking things one game at a time in hopes of finding themselves victorious in the 9th District Tournament.
Daviess County wrapped up the season with an overall record of 7-13 and a district record of 4-2.
As the season came to a close the Lady Panthers were dealing with some health issues, but Head Coach David Sandifer said that is to be expected and they should be ready to go by gametime.
“We’ve been a little short-handed the last couple of weeks, but everybody seems to be coming along, which is what you need to do… ” Sandifer said. “I think everyone has got some nicks and dings at this point in the year, so I think we’re as healthy as we could really count on being.”
To prepare for the tournament, Sandifer said that Daviess County has been emphasizing defensive positioning in practice.
“We’re basically working on things that we’ve identified over the course of the season that we need to get better at,” Sandifer said. “Of course you’re doing that all season, but with the last of the regular season you have a few days to try and fine tune some stuff. So we’re working on defensive positioning and some different things like that primarily.”
The Lady Panthers will be tasked with taking on Owensboro in their match on Tuesday to start the tournament.
Daviess County defeated the Lady Devils in both of its regular season matches, but Sandifer said that postseason play is a different animal and you can’t hang your head on those games.
With that in mind, they’ve been focusing on finishing offensively to prepare for the talented Owensboro junior goalkeeper in Chandler Worth.
“The next couple of days we’ll work on finishing rather than just shooting, because like I said Chandler is a good goalkeeper,” Sandifer said. “So you can’t just hit balls toward a goal and hope they’re going to go in.”
All in all, Sandifer said they must put together an all-around performance on both sides of the pitch to come away victorious.
“We’ve gotta play good solid team defense,” Sandifer said. “We’ve gotta stay between Owensboro and our goal. We’ve gotta do a good job of creating offensive opportunities and finishing them when we get the chance.”
Apollo
The E-gals will be tasked with taking on the underdog role, facing off with Owensboro Catholic to open up the 9th District Tournament.
Apollo finished the regular season with an overall record of 3-10-1, while finishing 0-6 in district play.
The E-gals will be a little shorthanded when they take on Owensboro Catholic on Monday, as they’ve lost some key players due to injury.
“We are banged up with our starting GK probably out for Monday’s match and another two starters out with injuries just in the last two weeks,” Apollo Head Coach Dave Woeste said.
Knowing the offensive threat that Owensboro Catholic is, Woeste said that their recent matchup with Ohio County will help because of their similar play style.
“We have played a tough opponent in Ohio County who plays good possession and is a similar opponent to OC,” Woeste said.
They’ve been focusing on their gameplan to keep Owensboro Catholic on their toes offensively in practice this week.
“We have tried to become a better defensive team throughout the season and we have worked very hard on pressure, cover and balance,” Woeste said.
All in all, for the E-gals to pull off the upset and earn their way to the 9th District Championship game, Woeste said the team must come together as one to be fully in sync.
“The best we can do is believe in each other and work as a team,” Woeste said. “Our defense must play well and be extremely disciplined and our offense must score early.”
9th District Schedule:
Monday Oct. 4-
Owensboro Catholic vs. Apollo at 5:15 @ Daviess County
Tuesday Oct. 5-
Daviess County vs Owensboro at 5:15 @ Daviess County
Thursday Oct. 7-
Girls final at 5:15 @ Daviess County
