|
Boyle County¿s Chelsea Gill, left, fights for possession with West Jessamine¿s Rachel Craycraft in Thursday¿s 4-0 loss to the Colts in the 12th Region semifinal at Rebel Stadium. (Hal Morris / October 19, 2012) |
Down by two goals barely 11 minutes into a regional semifinal was not the start the Boyle County girls were looking for.
But there the No. 21 Rebels were, and that proved too much for their young squad to overcome Thursday night in a 4-0 loss to No. 18 West Jessamine in the girls 12th Region Tournament at Rebel Stadium.
“That’s not the way we wanted to start. But you put a team like West Jessamine up 2-0 and you put yourself behind the eight-ball a little bit,”¿Boyle coach Brian Deem said. “But my kids didn’t panic, and they fought through the second half and we had a couple of chances ourselves.”
But those chances came too late for a Boyle team that trailed 2-0 at halftime and 3-0 before getting some late shots on goal that were stopped by West Jessamine goalkeeper Rebekah Hulsing.
And it was West Jessamine’s early goals that did the Rebels in.
First, Boyle was called for a foul in the penalty box and Toria Howard’s penalty kick got past Boyle goalkeeper Keeley Naylor in the lower left side of the goal to give the Colts a 1-0 lead 2 minutes, 56 seconds into the match. And with 28:23 left in the first half, Katie Mitchell slipped a shot past Naylor into the upper right corner of the net.
“The PK was legit, we slid over late on our rotation, and the other one was just misfortune,”¿Deem said.
West Jessamine coach Kevin Wright knew those early goals were going to take a lot of pressure off his squad.
“Everything’s magnified in this situation when you get down to these games. A mistake in the back, a mistake in the front either way and you’re done,” he said. “It just takes one goal, so I know what they’ve got, they’re a solid squad, they’re well-coached. Just getting that early goal, taking that pressure off yourself (is big).”
Boyle came on the attack to start the second half, as Hannah Harris had a shot in close against Hulsing, but could not get it past her.
It was still 2-0 when West Jessamine’s Sarah Wiggins took a long pass, outran the Boyle defense and beat Naylor for a goal.
Boyle was finally able to get off a couple of shots late against a stingy West Jessamine defense. With 16:30 to go, Chelsea Gill’s shot on the right side was stopped, then Hannah Harris failed to convert in a one-on-one situation against Hulsing with 10:22 to play. West led Boyle 9-6 in shots on goal.
“I told the kids tonight we were going to have about four or five good opportunities to score a goal. And we had four or five really good opportunities, two or three from point-blank range, but (Hulsing) made two great saves,”¿Deem said. “We had our opportunities, we just need to finish them. It’s no different than last year (in a state quartefinal loss to West), we had our opportunities and didn’t finish them.”
Wright said his back line made the difference.
“I know (Gill) is a really good player,”¿he said. “Our back line was just solid, we were always organized, we always had somebody on her, somebody pressuring her, just trying to keep her form getting things going.
Savannah Layne added a late goal for the Colts (13-4-7) who face Lincoln County (15-4-2) in Saturday’s regional final. The Patriots beat East Jessamine 2-1 in Thursday’s other semifinal.
Boyle (14-6-3) failed to reach the regional finals for the first time since 2007, but the Rebels return the bulk of players who saw varsity time this season, so Deem said his team will learn from this loss.
“We grew up tonight, we’ve been growing up all year. We’ve been up and down, it’s been a little inconsistent. We have a very good incoming (freshman) class I’m excited about,”¿he said. “I’m proud of my seniors. My seniors had all the reason in the world to be apprehensive about this year, and my seniors showed character and leadership, and I’m proud of them.
“They did what I asked, they left this program in better shape than it was when they got here by facing the adversity of those kids being gone and not faltering. This team definitely overachieved.”
But there the No. 21 Rebels were, and that proved too much for their young squad to overcome Thursday night in a 4-0 loss to No. 18 West Jessamine in the girls 12th Region Tournament at Rebel Stadium.
“That’s not the way we wanted to start. But you put a team like West Jessamine up 2-0 and you put yourself behind the eight-ball a little bit,”¿Boyle coach Brian Deem said. “But my kids didn’t panic, and they fought through the second half and we had a couple of chances ourselves.”
But those chances came too late for a Boyle team that trailed 2-0 at halftime and 3-0 before getting some late shots on goal that were stopped by West Jessamine goalkeeper Rebekah Hulsing.
And it was West Jessamine’s early goals that did the Rebels in.
First, Boyle was called for a foul in the penalty box and Toria Howard’s penalty kick got past Boyle goalkeeper Keeley Naylor in the lower left side of the goal to give the Colts a 1-0 lead 2 minutes, 56 seconds into the match. And with 28:23 left in the first half, Katie Mitchell slipped a shot past Naylor into the upper right corner of the net.
“The PK was legit, we slid over late on our rotation, and the other one was just misfortune,”¿Deem said.
West Jessamine coach Kevin Wright knew those early goals were going to take a lot of pressure off his squad.
“Everything’s magnified in this situation when you get down to these games. A mistake in the back, a mistake in the front either way and you’re done,” he said. “It just takes one goal, so I know what they’ve got, they’re a solid squad, they’re well-coached. Just getting that early goal, taking that pressure off yourself (is big).”
Boyle came on the attack to start the second half, as Hannah Harris had a shot in close against Hulsing, but could not get it past her.
It was still 2-0 when West Jessamine’s Sarah Wiggins took a long pass, outran the Boyle defense and beat Naylor for a goal.
Boyle was finally able to get off a couple of shots late against a stingy West Jessamine defense. With 16:30 to go, Chelsea Gill’s shot on the right side was stopped, then Hannah Harris failed to convert in a one-on-one situation against Hulsing with 10:22 to play. West led Boyle 9-6 in shots on goal.
“I told the kids tonight we were going to have about four or five good opportunities to score a goal. And we had four or five really good opportunities, two or three from point-blank range, but (Hulsing) made two great saves,”¿Deem said. “We had our opportunities, we just need to finish them. It’s no different than last year (in a state quartefinal loss to West), we had our opportunities and didn’t finish them.”
Wright said his back line made the difference.
“I know (Gill) is a really good player,”¿he said. “Our back line was just solid, we were always organized, we always had somebody on her, somebody pressuring her, just trying to keep her form getting things going.
Savannah Layne added a late goal for the Colts (13-4-7) who face Lincoln County (15-4-2) in Saturday’s regional final. The Patriots beat East Jessamine 2-1 in Thursday’s other semifinal.
Boyle (14-6-3) failed to reach the regional finals for the first time since 2007, but the Rebels return the bulk of players who saw varsity time this season, so Deem said his team will learn from this loss.
“We grew up tonight, we’ve been growing up all year. We’ve been up and down, it’s been a little inconsistent. We have a very good incoming (freshman) class I’m excited about,”¿he said. “I’m proud of my seniors. My seniors had all the reason in the world to be apprehensive about this year, and my seniors showed character and leadership, and I’m proud of them.
“They did what I asked, they left this program in better shape than it was when they got here by facing the adversity of those kids being gone and not faltering. This team definitely overachieved.”
