Having played Owensboro three times this season, with the most recent contest coming in the 9th District Championship, Daviess County was very familiar with the matchup. They were prepared when the Lady Devils packed their own defensive end and had an idea of how they wanted to attack – culminating in the Lady Panthers winning their third straight 3rd Region Championship, this time 3-0.
“This feels good,” Daviess County Head Coach Paige Crisp said. “Obviously, this has been the goal. We don’t want it to end here, but we wanted to get to this point, so it feels good to get here. I think our girls did what they needed to do tonight.”
For Crisp, this was her first season at the helm after longtime head coach David Sandifer retired. Having played for Daviess County from 2007-2010, Crisp spent the previous 10 seasons as Sandifer’s assistant coach.
“I’m really lucky that I was able to take over with this specific group of girls,” Crisp said. “They have stepped up as the pressure has been on us in every situation, and so far, we’ve been the favorite to win. That’s hard to play with the target on your back, but they have taken care of it just the way they need to. I’m happy that this is the year that I got to take over.”
In the first half, the Lady Panthers capitalized on an Owensboro miscue to take a 1-0 lead. Mary Evelyn Wiman made it 2-0 before halftime, scoring on a penalty kick. Despite taking a lead into halftime, the Lady Panthers took a bit to get going, as the Lady Devils were able to disrupt their offense early.
“I thought we played a good defensive game,” Owensboro Head Coach Sarah Poole said. “We all know Daviess County is a good team. I think that in the first 20ish minutes, we were disrupting their passes really well. Better than we have in other games. Of course, they got that cross in, where we weren’t able to get that one out, and then the PK was unfortunate. But overall, I thought we played well.”
In the 66th minute, Sasha Foster iced the game, scoring in front of the net. The Lady Panthers had their fair share of opportunities to balloon the lead, but Owensboro goalie Hayley Sikes stood tall, finishing with 15 saves.
The Lady Panthers finished with 23 shots, eight of them on goal, while goalie Kaelin Labhart finished with two saves in net.
Despite falling short, this was a tremendous season for the Lady Devils, reaching the 3rd Region Tournament for the first time in 12 seasons.
“OHS deserves a big congratulations on their season, especially the postseason,” Crisp said. “They improved so much since the beginning of the year and played us really tough in the district and region championships.”
Daviess County has a few days off to recover before facing off against University Heights in the first round of the State Tournament. The matchup is currently scheduled for Tuesday at 7 pm at Daviess County.
