Lady Titans win thriller over Ads in PKs; fall to West in title game
Arpan Dixit
Herald Staff
sports@harrodsburgherald.com
L to R: Lyzzie Prigmore, Savannah Prigmore and Alyssa Howard pose with their 12th region all-tournament team trophies. (Photo by Arpan Dixit)
Finals vs. West Jessamine
After an emotional and thrilling victory over Danville in the semifinals, the Mercer County Lady Titans (8-10-2) faced a tough task in their next match up. The West Jessamine Colts (17-2-5) are the defending district, region and state champions and have had a target on their back all season, but were able to handle the Lady Titans for the fourth time this season, winning 5-0 in the region championship on Thursday, Oct. 19.
In their first match up, the Colts won 7-0 back in late August. Their second match, the Lady Titans were able to keep it at 4-1. In the 46th district championship, the Colts came out victorious 4-0. Unfortunately, the Colts held onto their winning ways and earned another trip to the state tournament.
Head Coach Josh Culver, along with assistants Sam Travilion and Doug McClain, have worked tirelessly with this group and their play on the field reflects that.
“Sam (Travilion) actually played with a lot of the older players we have on our team when she was in high school so she knows them very well,” he said. “Coach McClain and Travilion know how these girls react to different situations, how they can push them and how they need to help them out. Coach McClain has been around the program for over 10 years and has established great relationship with his players as they grew up.”
Junior Lyzzi Prigmore, along with seniors Savannah Prigmore and Alyssa Howard, earned all-tournament team honors after the conclusion of the match against West.
Semi-Finals vs. Danville
The Lady Titans soccer team (7-10-2) suffered a tough opening night loss to the Danville Lady Admirals (14-5) at the beginning of the season. Based off their resiliency and performance Wednesday night against Danville, they are a completely different team. Mercer defeated the Lady Admirals 2-2 (4-3 in penalty kicks).
After two five-minute overtime sessions, a berth in the 12th region championship game was decided by penalty kicks.
Jasa Connelly, Lily Rogers, L. Prigmore, Howard and Aubrey Jones stepped up for the Lady Titans to take the kicks.
Kelsie Steber took the first kick for the Lady Ads and scored to put Danville up 1-0 after the first kick. Jasa Connelly started it off for Mercer, but her shot was saved by Danville goalie Grace Gaffney. S. Prigmore made a diving save of her own to keep the score at 1-0. Howard stepped up for Mercer and tied it up at 1-1. Nash scored to give the Lady Ads a 2-1 lead. Jones made her presence known, as she evened the score up at 2-2. Zoe Gooch for Danville stepped up to the box to try and give her team a big momentum shift, but Prigmore made another diving save to keep it at 2-2. Her sister, Lyzzi, scored to give the Lady Titans a 3-2 lead. Danville tied it up at 3-3 and the game came down to the leg of Lily Rogers. If Rogers scored, the Lady Titans would advance to the region title game, and she did just that. The Lady Titans jumped into celebration after defeating Danville in a thriller.
To learn more, check out this week’s issue of The Harrodsburg Herald.
