After suffering their first loss of the season at the hands of Bowling Green, the University Heights Academy girls’ soccer team got back on track Monday night with a 4-0 8th District win over the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers. The shutout win was UHA’s first over Hopkinsville since the 2008 region championship.
Freshman Kate Cansler got the Lady Blazers started midway through the first half when she punched it in from close range after Hopkinsville sophomore goalkeeper Natajea Babb couldn’t hold on to a Lady Blazer corner kick. With the Hopkinsville defense dropping deep to keep the Lady Blazers in front of them, junior midfielder Lilly Strader hit a 30 yard bomb that dropped in over Babb’s head for UHA’s second goal.
Only seven minutes into the second half, UHA would be awarded a penalty kick after a Hopkinsville handball in the box, but senior defender Alli Cundiff would push her shot wide. The Lady Tiger defense was resilient and kept the Lady Blazers off the board in the second half until with twelve minutes left Babb picked up an intentional back pass, awarding UHA an indirect free kick from inside of ten yards. Strader tapped the ball to Cansler, who scored into the far corner of the goal. A short time later, Strader would get her second goal of the game off an assist from Cundiff for the final 4-0 margin.
Hopkinsville senior midfielder Avery O’Hara worked hard all night, but saw little of the ball. With under two minutes left in the contest the Lady Tigers were awarded a penalty kick after a Lady Blazer handball in the box. O’Hara stepped up with a chance to end her night with a goal, but her shot would miss off the outside of the right post, and the final whistle would soon follow.
The Lady Blazers, ranked 2nd in the YourSportsEdge.com 2nd Region rankings, move to 6-1 on the season and return to action Thursday against 13th ranked Christian County (1-7). The 5th ranked Lady Tigers drop to 4-5 and travel to 10th ranked Fort Campbell (2-6) Tuesday night.
