Conner produced a goal in each half Monday night to seal a 2-0 victory against Highlands in their final home game of the regular season.
Just as fans began to take their seats, the Cougars got their first goal. A forced turnover and cross by senior Sophia Maki skipped past two Highlands defenders and fell at the feet of senior Milana Arevalo 26 seconds in.
“Getting a goal that early in the game just really set the tone,” Conner head coach Michael Hughes said. “For us it relaxed us, you know. Highlands is a great program that teams have had a hard time finding the back of the net against.”
With 10 shutouts on the season, the Bluebirds have held seven of eight 9th Region opponents scoreless. On the offensive end however, Highlands has been held scoreless over their last four matches.
Facing an opposition that has 16 shutouts on the year, ending the drought would come as no easy task. Highlands regrouped and found success with balls through the middle that posed a threat to the Cougars backline.
“We show a lot of grit when we go down,” Highlands head coach Kelsey Etherton said. “We’ve gone down a couple times this season and each time we show that we can face adversity. Besides the result, there’s something in our team’s ability to power through till the very end.”
The Bluebirds tried getting the ball to junior Reese Wilkens on various occasions, however it wasn’t enough to get past junior Izelee Kerns and the Conner backline. The Cougars held the 1-0 lead at halftime and at the start of the second half, Conner found yet another early goal.
Four minutes in, Conner sophomore Maya Owen shielded off her defender from a throw in which set up a quick touch and shot that sunk into the back of the net. Unreachable for Highlands goalie Bailee Class to make a play on the ball, Conner found their insurance goal.
Combining for 15 goals on the season, Owen and Arevalo are two of six players with five or more recorded goals.
“I think this is the only team I remember where I haven’t had a player with double digit goals,” Hughes said. “But it’s also hard to remember a team that can score effectively in so many different ways. I think that makes us more dangerous and gives teams more than one player to focus on.”
The second half was another display of lockdown defense. Shutting down Bluebirds freshman Maren Orme who leads the team with five goals, Highlands was unable to break the seal.
“I felt like we had a lot of opportunities in the last 20 minutes,” Etherton said.
The ball found itself on the Cougars defensive half more times than not in the second half which included two headers inside the box.
As time ran out in Monday night’s contest, Highlands is left with one last regular season game. The Bluebirds will take on Newport Central Catholic Tuesday night at Northern Kentucky University as they’ll look to break their scoreless streak before the postseason begins next week.
“We’re definitely saving our goals for tournament time,” Etherton joked. “We’re creating a lot of opportunities, we just haven’t found the back of the net. Once it happens, it’s not going to stop.”
As Conner’s regular season comes to an end, they’ll look to enter the postseason healthy. In addition to a couple prior-game knocks, Kerns exited the game late with what the team hopes to be a minor ankle injury.
“On Wednesday we’ll look to rotate a whole different group of players for that match,” Hughes said. “I want to give our starters as much of a rest as we can give them while also giving other players the opportunity to showcase what kind of minutes they could give us in the postseason.”
Sitting at an impressive 18-1-1, Conner will play their final game on the road Wednesday night against Paul Laurence Dunbar. They’ll open up postseason play on Monday when they face Boone County at Cooper in the 33rd District semifinals.
“With the postseason, you can’t afford to get by semi-unscathed,” Hughes said. “It’s all a go from here.”
Some more photos of Monday night’s game, provided by Charles Bolton:
