After the first match between the two crosstown rivals ended with a fiery shootout it nearly seemed as though it would again, until a handball led to a penalty kick goal in the final three minutes for Sydney Lovett and a 1-0 win over Apollo for the Lady Devils.
It was a back and forth affair in the first half of play, with both teams struggling to get much going offensively. It was the E-gals who had a slight advantage in possession time, getting the first real threats of the game on corner kicks in the 14th and 19th minute.
Nothing came of either attempt, but junior Ella Hayden was able to get a shot off on a counter a minute later. Senior keeper Chandler Worth was able to save the first shot of the game, thwarting numerous opportunities offensively by playing aggressive in the box and leaving the game tied at 0-0 going into halftime.
Head Coach Michael Lovett was upset with his team’s first half play, noting that it seemed identical to the first matchup between the crosstown foes. Wanting them to fight more for the 50-50 balls and more effort to lead to a win, Lovett addressed the issue at halftime.
“I said ‘I really don’t care about pretty soccer or anything like that,”’ Lovett said. “‘I need you guys to battle and compete and if you’re not going to whoever is on the bench is going in. And I’m going to find 11 people that want to play and compete.’”
The Lady Devils heard Lovett’s message loud and clear, as in the second half Owensboro was playing aggressively and forcing Apollo to get most of its offense through counters. The E-gals did get the first shot of the second half however, as junior Jolie Foster ripped one from outside of the box in the 60th minute.
It was saved by Worth once again, leading to Lovett taking the ball at midfield and speeding her way towards a foul that resulted in a free kick. After a deflection the Lady Devils then had a corner, but nothing came of it to leave it tied at 0-0 in the 63rd minute.
After two more shots from Apollo, Lovett nearly sank one just under the crossbar with two minutes to play but it sailed over and it seemed as if the game was headed to overtime. However, a questionable handball call in a scrum in the box with 28 seconds left gave Owensboro the chance to win in PK’s once again.
With full confidence Lovett sent Sydney to take the shot, as she sank it on the right side of the net to give the Lady Devils a 1-0 win in regulation.
“I’m pretty confident when she steps up,” Lovett said. “In all her years of playing soccer I think she’s only missed one. That’s kind of a specialty of hers, so when it’s called I’m always confident. I would be surprised if she did miss. I wouldn’t be disappointed if she missed, I would just be surprised. It was called, we knew who was going to take it and I was confident it was going to go in.”
The win helps Owensboro’s district goals, as they move to 3-4 overall and 2-3 in district play to help them secure the third best record in those regards. This is a confidence booster going forward for Lovett and company, who hope to build off of this win as the season progresses.
“Well we’re not the bottom seed going into the district tournament, so we’ll see how things shake out in the next DC/Catholic game to where we know who we’re going to play and kind of gauge the rest of our season to prepare for that matchup,” Lovett said. “[We want to] make sure we can get healthy and get some more quality wins outside of our district and outside of our region and see where we go from there.”
On the other hand Apollo falls to 2-7-1 and 0-5 in district, knowing that if a few things had fallen their way that its first district win was in the cards. Head Coach Zach Akin said that in order to convert some of the offensive opportunities they had in the future they have to get deeper into the attacking third.
“When we create chances, we still didn’t put them away tonight,” Akin said. “The longer a game like this goes 0-0, the more likely that something like what happened is going to happen. I think that’s just what it comes down to, for us especially over the last few games.”
Regardless of the result, Akin is pleased with his team’s effort considering that they controlled the tempo for a good chunk of the match. As they head into a short break before returning to the pitch Tuesday, Akin said that they have to be mentally tough and not take steps back.
“I’ve told them once to have the memory of a goldfish,” Akin said. “So I think that’s kind of the mentality that they need to have after a loss like this. Sure we’re going to be angry. Sure they’ll probably talk about what happened for the next two or three days, but come next week we’ve gotta move on.”
