You gotta have heart.
A Highlands team that hadn’t tasted victory at the state tournament in a few years showed plenty of that Tuesday as it stunned No. 1-ranked Boyle County in the first round of the girls state soccer tournament.
Macy Hargis punched in the tiebreaking goal with nine minutes remaining to give the Bluebirds a 2-1 win at Rebel Stadium in Danville.
Highlands earned its first state tournament victory since 2019 by outplaying the only remaining unbeaten team in Kentucky on its home field for the final 75 minutes after giving up an early goal.
“Complete honesty, I think we had the most heart,” Hargis said. “This team is like no other. We’re really working, not for ourselves but for each other, and I think tonight that showed.”
The Bluebirds (13-9-2), who are in the state tourney for the sixth time in the past eight seasons, advanced to a Saturday quarterfinal at Johnson Central by keeping one of the state’s top offenses from getting untracked.
Boyle ranked second in the state in scoring with 6.4 goals per game and had four 25-goal scorers, but the Rebels (24-1-1) found opportunities hard to come by against a Highlands team that possessed the ball for the vast majority of the game.
“This feeling is just absolutely unbelievable,” Highlands coach Kelsey Etherton said. “Preparing for this game, knowing that this team was 24-and-0, was definitely challenging. But we knew that if we played our game and we didn’t let them set the tone, that we would be able to capitalize on our opportunities.”
Etherton said the most critical moment in the game might have been when Gabby Simons scored to tie the game in the sixth minute, just 94 seconds after Ellery Taylor had given Boyle the lead on a header four minutes and 20 seconds into the game.
“We did a lot of scouting to try and prepare us, and we were told they (Boyle was) going to play not cocky, but confident, and they absolutely did. And I think that was something that we struggled with in the first 10 minutes of the game, which is why we let in a goal,” Etherton said. “But I think that not letting up, adjusting quickly and getting one back within (a couple of) minutes is what made the difference.”
Simons slipped through the defense to track down a pass from Hargis, beating Boyle’s goalkeeper to the ball and putting it away.
Boyle coach Brian Deem said that goal “deflated” his team.
“After that, through the first half, I felt like we were on our heels. We were playing not to lose … which is the first time I’ve seen us do that this year,” Deem said.
The Rebels had only four more shots on goal, all saved by Bailee Class.
“We knew who we needed to watch, and we talked about how we needed to mark and follow those girls and make sure that they were denied opportunities with the ball at their feet,” Etherton said. “We also did, I think, a pretty good job of passing the ball to feet. When we would play a little bit more kickball they would be able to get to it, but when we would actually possess the ball and play to feet, I think that they struggled to keep up with that type of play.”
That finally paid off for Highlands when Hargis fielded a cross from Ally Lickert just outside the right post and drove it into the left side of the goal from 15 yards.
“We noticed that they leave the wide (side) open, so my just was to stay as wide as I could. I’m looking for my opportunity,” Hargis said. “When I scored, I didn’t know what to do, so I started jumping up and down.”
Hargis and her teammates were jumping for joy again nine minutes later when Highlands, which had lost in the first round in their last three state appearances, clinched its first state tourney win since it made consecutive runs to the finals in 2018 and ’19.
Etherton made sure the Bluebirds knew that as she prepared them for another long bus ride Saturday that they hope will be part of a much longer journey.
“We get to go to Johnson Central. Do you know what game we played in the last time we won at state in 2019?” she asked the players as they roared out a response. “So it’s on!”