Bishop Brossart emphatically advanced to Thursday’s girls 10th Region soccer final.
The defending champion Mustangs overwhelmed Pendleton County in Wednesday’s 10-0, mercy-rule semifinal win at George Rogers Clark. They take on GRC, a 2-1 penalty-kick winner over Campbell County, for the title at 7 p.m.
Brossart exhibited serious seniority – two of them, Abby Lloyd and Leah Malay, scored three and two goals, respectively.
To Malay, Lloyd and the other five seniors, tonight’s game is the high school equivalent of a Southeastern Conference marketing slogan – “It Just Means More.”
“Every game could be your last,” Malay said. “Every time coming out here, you have to work hard.”
The Mustangs and Cardinals tied, 1-1, in their only regular season meeting Aug. 23 in Winchester. Lloyd scored for the Mustangs – Avery Schaeffer had the assist – and Ella Vanhooser scored for the Cardinals.
Lloyd’s college plans don’t include soccer – she’s headed for the University of Cincinnati.
“I wouldn’t say it means more ‘cause we all want it equally as much,” Lloyd said. “But our seniors are going as hard as we can; we want to go as long as we can.”
Pendleton County finished 8-7-2, including 3-1-1 in its final five matches.
“Finishing with a winning record overall – very positive for our program,” Wildcats coach Aaron Harper said. “It’s the first winning record in 10 years, the first time we won district in 10 years.”
It took Brossart (13-7-2) just three minutes to move ahead – Kiersten Key opened the scoring – and after 12 minutes the Mustangs were up 4-0 on goals by Lloyd, Malay and Lloyd again.
The scoring lull lasted just 12 minutes. In order: Malay in the 24th, Hadley Eviston in the 26th, Zoey Woosley in the 28thand Sarah Oergel in the 29th.
That’s a 7-0 halftime lead.
Schaeffer scored in the 50th minute, Kaitlyn Kramer converted a penalty kick in the 64th, and Lloyd’s goal in the 65thended the night.
“Brossart’s a far superior team than we are,” Pendleton County coach Aaron Harper said.
Brossart (13-7-2) coach Andy Smith watched GRC.
“Even watching them playing Campbell County, (I’m) probably looking at changing the formations up a bit and maybe some personnel moves around (to) different spots to fill some gaps,” Smith said.
GRC 2, Campbell County 1 (4-2 in penalty kicks)
Despite the loss, Campbell County coach Dave Morris said Wednesday was one of the best games his team played.
“We worked hard on possessing (the ball) and being able to take the physical contact and still connect on passes,” Morris said.
Cardinals junior goalkeeper Maddie Redmon wasn’t even a little nervous as she faced Taylor Maley to open the PK session. Maley went to the lower left corner, where Redmon awaited.
“Honestly, it’s just my instinct,” Redmon said. “I’m usually a better diver right, and so I tend to go toward that way.”
Campbell County keeper Abi Medaugh was not as fortunate. GRC’s Laney Frazier beat Medaugh to the upper left corner, and three other Cardinals scored.
“I just tried to look at their hips and try my best,” Medaugh said. “You just have to pick a direction and just go for it.”
An often-practiced set piece led to Campbell County’s (11-10-3) goal in the 33rd minute. Sophomore Ryan Weghorn converted Valerie Stephens’ corner kick.
“I just try to place it where they’re going to be,” Stephens said. “Obviously, Ryan had the run-in … We took a lot of corners, we had a lot of corners this year – and we did well.”
A Camels defensive lapse in the 45th minute became a GRC score. A pass from the Cardinals’ Reese Patrick, stationed to Medaugh’s right, found an unmarked Madison Stapleton, who only had to tap in the goal.
GRC (10-6-3) kept the ball in Campbell County’s defensive third for much of the first 20 minutes, but the Camels had two scoring chances. A Caitlin Crowley shot sailed over the crossbar from about 20 yards away in the third minute, and Redmon dove right to reject Kennedy Crowley’s shot nearly seven minutes later.
Redmon saved shots by Kennedy Crowley and Weghorn in the 86th and 87th minute, respectively.
Stephens, Alexandria Powell and Emily Hanson finished their high school soccer careers, but everyone else returns, including leading scorer Jozie Holmes, who led the team with 12 goals and nine assists.
“The season was successful in my eyes,” Stephens said. “We graduated 10 seniors last year, and we had a bunch of younger players, and they all came out and worked hard for us.”