Daviess County beat Owensboro Catholic 2-0 to put an end to the Lady Aces’ three-year reign as Girls’ 9th District Champions. Both teams had multiple players be named to the All-District team as well. Owensboro Catholic’s Ginny Young was named this year’s 9th District Player of the Year. The All-District team included:
- Lillian Coombs- DCHS
- Kate McCain- DCHS
- Allie Marston- OCHS
- Annie Helwig- OCHS
- Mary Evelyn Wiman- DCHS
- Sydney Lovett- OHS
- Elle Brey- OCHS
- Kara Green- AHS
- Mallary Bailey- OCHS
- Bailey Brown- DCHS
- Molly Fuqua- DCHS
- Jodie Foster- AHS
The first half saw both teams equal in possession. It was a real push and pull between the two until Daviess County broke the deadlock. Amal Kalik scored from an assist by Molly Floyd to take the Lady Panthers up 1-0.
The second half was just as even with both teams seeing plenty of the ball. Defenses worked overtime as DCHS and OCHS offenses were aggressively trying to break behind the back lines.
Daviess County extended their lead to 2-0 early in the second half. Kate McCain crossed a low ball into the box that found the feet of Maddison Purcell who put it into the net. After securing the two-goal lead, DCHS goalkeeper Emily Baughn said the team was calm and composed while defending their lead.
“We really worked on being calm in general,” she said. “There’s obviously a lot of nerves going into these kinds of matches, so I think staying calm and staying composed was important. In front of the goal and even when trying to score, try to stay composed. That’s one thing that we really worked on and it paid off.”
The rest of the game was a battle for OCHS to gain possession in hopes that they would cut into the lead. The Lady Aces passed well enough to move the ball into a dangerous area, but they couldn’t find the looks necessary to get enough shots on goal. OCHS head coach Andy Hines said the same effort and intensity that the team played with against Apollo in the last round of the tournament was just not there this time around.
“I don’t think we played great, I mean we got outworked,” he said. “That’s been the last two times we’ve played them that they outworked us. They challenged everything while we watched and one person did all the work. In the last game against Apollo everybody worked and challenged for everything and it was a different game. We had opportunities that we didn’t put away either.”
Both goalkeepers also made key saves late in the second half to keep the score stagnant until the final whistle.
This district title was the first for many of the Lady Panthers on the team since Owensboro Catholic held on to it for the last few seasons, and Baughn said this feeling was a new experience for herself and the team.
“This feels amazing,” she said. “I’m a senior this year, and I’ve never been a district champ before. We’ve always made it and we always lost to Catholic, so this is a big change for us. As seniors we haven’t experienced this and none of the underclassmen have, so I’m very happy they get to experience this now, so that we can carry this on, and they can win next year.”
