It was a short layoff from the state tournament for the Owensboro Catholic girls’ soccer team. Since the reclassification to District 9 in 2012, the Lady Aces made the trip to state four consecutive years from 2013-2016 before Daviess County ended the streak a season ago.
The Lady Panthers nearly repeated the feat this year, but a wild finish to the Region 3 championship game ended in favor of Owensboro Catholic. OCHS overcame a two-goal halftime deficit and won the game in the final minute with an impressive save at one end and a winning shot by Lily Moore at the other.
Now, the Lady Aces (14-6-1) prepare to host a semi-state game today against Greenwood (16-2-3), who beat OCHS 5-0 a few weeks ago. The Lady Gators beat Bowling Green 1-0 via a shootout in the Region 4 championship.
The loss for the Lady Aces came during a stretch in which they went 2-4 against tough competition. They are currently riding a three-game winning streak in which they pulled off a narrow victory over Ohio County before getting the win over Daviess County.
Greenwood only has a pair of losses this season, and both came at the hands of Bowling Green. They are also on a three-game win streak.
The winner of Tuesday’s match will advance to the quarterfinal, which will be hosted Saturday by the winner of Highlands (20-4) and George Rogers Clark (14-7-2).
The Lady Aces are no stranger to a deep run in the state tournament, as they advanced past the first round each time during their four-year stretch.
They fell in the quarterfinals in 2013 and made it to the championship in 2014, when they lost to South Oldham. They then lost to Lexington Catholic in the semifinals in back-to-back seasons.
Starting with their opener against Greenwood, Owensboro Catholic will have tough matchups in each round. Though Moore is far and away the leading goal-scorer for the Lady Aces, they have plenty of talent on both offense and defense that they’ll rely on for success.
