When Conner’s girls soccer team defeated South Oldham and Notre Dame in a span of three days in the preseason, Cougars coach Mike Hughes had a feeling he might have something special this year.
His notion is correct, the Cougars (22-2-1) now one win away from the first region championship in program history after taking down Notre Dame 1-0 in the 9th Region semifinals on Wednesday night at Conner.
The team’s defense is beyond the often coin phrased term “lights out”. Wednesday’s shutout marked the 20th of the season in 25 games played.
“We’ve been able to do it with Izelee (Kerns) and the girls in the back and the defense they can play, we can shut teams down,” Cougars coach Mike Hughes said. “And you saw with Ally Welch today, she’s as good as any goalie I’ve seen. When it came time to it, she did what she needed to do.”
So when Milana Arevalo hit Ashley Sweetay for a cross and a header into the back of the net in the 11th minute, the defense did the rest.
If a team gets past Izelee Kerns on the back line, and very rarely it does, Ally Welch is there to stone them in goal. Often seeing minimal action thanks to her back line, Welch’s goalkeeping skills were on full display in this one. Her 10 saves were of all kinds of variety, leaping, diving, sliding.
“I haven’t had to make saves like that all year,” Welch said. “My defenders are able to push them outside and take away their shooting angles so I can make those saves.”
In a matchup of two of the top five teams in the state, Notre Dame at No. 3, Conner at No. 5, it was going to take a valiant effort from the Cougars to keep the Pandas off the scoreboard.
Notre Dame grabbed momentum early with possession and creating chances, but it was Arevalo and Sweetay connecting first.
“Ava Schier played the perfect ball through that we’ve been talking about that,” Arevalo said. “We knew they were gonna overshoot, so Ava found that perfect ball and I didn’t want to waste it. Just hit it over, prayed Ashley would get it, and yeah, it just seemed to work out for us.”
Arevalo sent a cross in from just outside the box down the right sideline, the cross finding Sweetay’s head and into the back of the net.
“Milana played a perfect ball, I just took advantage of the open space and hoped it went in,” Sweetay said. “As it was in the air I was just thinking, ‘Don’t screw this up, don’t screw this up.'”
A goal deficit even for the No. 3 team in the state was a monumental task for the Pandas. Towards the end of the half, Notre Dame again created multiple chances, three shots threatening, but Welch able to clear them or the ball going over the crossbar.
“They got the one break in the first half, got sucked in a little too much instead of staying with the runners and they did a great job finishing,” Pandas coach Cory Dan said. “Had three fantastic opportunities, can’t take anything away from their keeper, those are top notch saves that Ally made.”
Conner nearly made it 2-0, 10 minutes into the second half, but a Joelle Hentz sliding save kept the game at a one-goal deficit for the Pandas.
As the clock continued to tic down, the seconds couldn’t go down any faster for a Conner team that had lost 25 straight matchups to the Pandas dating back to 2000.
“It was so long, so long,” Welch said. “A lot of yelling.”
Notre Dame’s chances kept mounting. A diving save by Welch with 26 minutes to play, a kick save with 6:30 to go and then the most dangerous of them all…with two minutes and change left, a free kick from about 30 yards out that nearly slipped past her sure hands and past the goal line, but was quickly corralled by the senior keeper.
“I just had to get on top of it because I knew they were coming,” Welch said. “I knew they were right there so I just knew I had to get it.”
The final horn sounded and it sent the Cougars and their large faithful into a frenzy, now one game away from history.
“We went to Centre College for a team camp over the summer and did really well,” Hughes said. “Then we beat South Oldham and Notre Dame within three games of each other then I thought that this could happen, we could be that good. They listen and they come to work. Can’t ask for a better group of girls.”
Notre Dame’s effort was met with 15 shots, 10 of them on goal, compared to Conner’s six shots, five of them on goal. Hentz made four saves for the Pandas as their season comes to a close at 14-4-4. It’s the first time since 2020 they aren’t playing for a region championship.
“We’re always chasing that feeling, always wanting to compete, always wanting to win, whatever it is that we want, or whatever it is that we compete at,” Dan said. “It’s a very independent game and sometimes, even when you play well, you lose a match because the ball doesn’t bounce your way once or twice.”
Conner will face Highlands on Saturday back at Conner at 1 p.m.
“Girls are super pumped, super excited,” Hughes said. “If you watch us pre-game, these girls have a different vibe about them. They’re just loose, every game is treated the same. Of course Saturday, you’re 80 minutes from going to the state tournament, of course we’ll be a little bit more amped up, but with the win tonight the confidence level is going to continue to rise.”
The Bluebirds defeated Dixie Heights, 2-1 in the nightcap.
A photo slideshow below, provided by Charles Bolton:
