The LINK nky Team of the Week for Sept. 11-17 presented by Ortho Cincy is the Walton-Verona girls soccer team.
The Bearcats showed up and showed out in voting, tallying over 9,000 votes and nearly 60% of total votes.
Earning Walton-Verona Team of the Week honors was their run in the All “A” state girls soccer tournament. After coming off just their second quarterfinal win in program history, the Bearcats made it all the way to the championship game before dropping the title game to Bethlehem.
WALTON-VERONA GIRLS SOCCER
The Bearcats won their fifth All “A” sectional game in the last six years with a 1-0 victory over Brown on Sept. 13. They followed that up with wins over Sayre (4-3) in the quarterfinals and St. Henry (1-0) in the semifinals before the championship game loss to Bethlehem (3-0).
The championship game appearance was the first in program history.
“We rode the lightning for as long as we could,” said Patrick Luken, Walton-Verona head coach. “They moved the ball very well. To be honest if we’re fresh, we probably give them a better game.”
Brynn Willis had nine saves for the Bearcats in the title game.
In the win over Sayre, Cam Christy scored twice for the Bearcats and added an assist. Trinity Bauwens and Kassie Evans added goals with Emma Landrum and Ava Fuller adding assists. Willis made four saves.
Christy scored the lone goal in the victory against the Crusaders, assisted by Olivia Sams. Willis made six saves. Christy, Evans, Bauwens and Macey Sawyer made the all-tournament team for the Bearcats.
Walton-Verona is currently 14-3-2 on the season with two regular season games left until the 32nd District Tournament. They host Boone County on Wednesday and play at Villa Madonna on Friday before taking on Grant County in the district tourney on Oct. 2. If they can defeat the Braves, they’ll get another chance to try and knock off Simon Kenton in the district championship. The Pioneers rallied for a 4-3 victory in their Sept. 20 matchup, coming back from a 3-1 halftime deficit.
Congratulations on our other nominees as well: St. Henry volleyball team, Newport football team and Campbell County boys soccer team.
Look for the new LINK nky Team of the Week nominees for Sept. 18-24 online soon at linknky.com.
Got a team you have in mind? Please send nominations to [email protected].