Seeking its first appearance in the 2nd Region championship since 2016 and first title since 2011, the Hopkinsville girls’ soccer team came up just short in Wednesday night’s semifinal, falling 1-0 to Henderson County at the Stadium of Champions.
After dropping a 2-0 decision to the Lady Colonels just over a month ago, the Lady Tigers appeared to be in danger of falling behind in the opening moments of Wednesday’s rematch. However, after surviving a couple of early close calls, the Lady Tigers found their footing and the teams were scoreless at the halftime break.
The Lady Colonels ramped up the pressure to start the second half, before seeing calls for a Hoptown handball in the box turned away with just under 30 minutes to play.
Henderson continued to create chances on goal and finally found the breakthrough when Reece Crafton beat Hoptown keeper VyNguyen from 25 yards to break the deadlock with 22:56 on the clock.
With time running out on their season, the Lady Tigers threw numbers forward looking for the equalizer, but the Lady Colonel defense held firm to seal the victory.
Henderson will meet UHA, shootout winners over Madisonville-North Hopkins in the other semifinal, in search of its fifth-straight 2nd Region title on Thursday. The Lady Colonels topped the Lady Blazers 2-1 in last year’s final.