By Brad Laux/1016sports
For the first time in four years, the 10th Region girls’ soccer tournament champion resides outside of the 37th District as host George Rogers Clark used a second-half offensive flurry to down defending champ Bishop Brossart, 5-3 on Thursday night at Cardinal Stadium.
Clark’s most recent title came in 2019, the last time the crown was won by someone other than Brossart or Campbell County.
GRC (11-6-3) built a 2-0 lead late in the first half only to see it evaporate as the Lady ‘Stangs rallied to tie the score in the 46th minute.
However, the hosts retook the lead with goals in the 62nd, 65th and 71st minute to pull away for good. Brossart added a late score on a penalty kick.
“I saw a hard-fought game,” Lady ‘Stangs coach Andy Smith said. “We got down 2-0 kinda early, got caught on the counter a few times. They had some nice goals, some nice finishes. We battled back, tied it up 2-2. We had some momentum going and again, they just finished when it counted. (They) got us when we were down.”
The hosts missed a pair of golden opportunities right at the outset of the contest, but eventually were able to convert on back-to-back plays with just over nine and eight minutes to play, respectively, in the first half.
The first came on Ella Vanhooser’s corner kick from the right side. She found Reese Patrick in a crowd at the front post and the junior forward kicked the ball over the line with 9:08 to play.
Just 51 seconds later, Madison Stapleton played a long ball forward that Patrick ran onto and she was able to beat Brossart keeper Madeline Broering from about 20 yards out.
Brossart (14-7-2) added a goal 36 seconds before halftime after converting on a corner kick.
Leah Malay took the kick on the right side and found Zoey Woosley in the middle of the field a few yards in front of the net. The junior was able to finish and send the teams into the break with a 2-1 score.
Both sides took 10 shots, with Clark holding a 3-2 advantage in corners.
Early in the second half, the Lady ‘Stangs were able to collect the equalizer.
Avery Schaeffer’s free kick from about 35 yards out slipped through the defense. Rachel Shewmaker was able to break off the line quickest and got to the ball in front of the net. Her shot glanced off the hands of Lady Card goalkeeper Maddie Redmon and into the left side of the goal at the 34:39 mark.
Smith felt his team would eventually knot the score.
“I (attribute) that to my team. The girls, the players, the resilience,” he said of the reason for his belief. “They always play hard. They don’t quit. They don’t give up. Even when we were down 2-0, I feel like everybody had the collective idea that we were going to tie it up and make this a game.”
However as the half wore on, the Cards became the aggressor and with 17:54 left in the contest they were able to go back in front.
Patrick collected her second goal of the night when she took a Laney Frazier cross from the right flank and from inside the box in the middle of the field rolled a shot into the left corner past a sliding Broering.
Clark kept peppering away at the goal and broke through again in the 65th minute when Vanhooser blasted an unassisted shot from 25 yards out on the right side to the opposite post.
Cassie Lowe finished off the hosts’ scoring when she took a Madison Stapleton pass from 40 yards out in the middle of the field and blasted it high and to the right of Broering in the 71st minute.
Clark coach Erica Hanson credited her players for taking advantages of counter opportunities.
“They left us 1v1. I think they’re an offensive-minded team, attacking-minded team, and so when they left us 1v1 in those situations, I think it really allowed some creativity to evolve, a lot of space to evolve back there, and it allowed us just to finish,” she said. “Give props to my kids. They put the ball in great places where the goalkeeper didn’t have a chance.”
The Lady ’Stangs tried to mount a late comeback and were able to close the deficit to within two goals after Kiersten Key was taken down in the box and awarded a penalty kick in the 73rd minute. She kicked a chest-high shot to the left of Redmon, who had no play on the ball.
Clark out-shot Brossart 22-12. Vanhooser led the way for the hosts with eight. Frazier had five. Shewmaker and Woosley each had three to top the visitors. Broering had nine saves for Brossart, while Redmon collected six for the Lady Cards. Both teams finished with five corner kicks. GRC accumulated 21 fouls, to Brossart’s 15.
“It was a team game. It really, really was. I know that sounds super cliche, but we had a ton of different people put in a bunch of different minutes who were just really trying to get the work done,” Hanson said. “We were super unselfish and I think that you saw that with the amount of goals that we scored and just the creativity in the box. We were great tonight.”
It was the final game for eight Lady ‘Stang seniors. Smith paused before reflecting on the contributions during their careers.
“Oh man, seniors. I can say a lot. Special, special kids,” he said. “Starting with Emma Sandfoss, we lost her in the first game of the season at the Bluegrass (Games) with an ACL. She was one of our leading scorers from the past three years, actually won a regional title here on this field four years ago. Another senior, Avery Schaeffer, four-year player. I can go down the list. There’s eight of them. It might take a while, but Ava (Ritter), Kiersten (Key), Nicole (Saner), Kylie (Kremer), Leah (Malay), Abby Lloyd as well, they’re just awesome kids. It’s been a pleasure to coach them. Super coachable. A good group of kids. We had a lot of fun this season. I hate for it to end, but we’re not the last man standing this year.”
GRC had three players named to the all-tournament team: Laney Frazier, Ella Vanhooser and Reese Patrick; while Kaitlyn Kramer and Avery Schaeffer represented Brossart. The remainder of the all-tournament team was presented with their awards earlier in the week. That group included Madison Davis (Montgomery County), Chloe Cracraft (Mason County), Cay Harper (Pendleton County), Jae Caudill (Pendleton County), Kacie Thompson (Campbell County) and Ryan Weghorn (Campbell County).
George Rogers Clark will host 9th Region champion (either Cooper or Notre Dame) in the first-round of the state tournament on Monday, Oct. 16.