Calloway County came into Mercy Health Field sitting fourth in the region with a regional record of four wins and three losses and an overall record of eight wins and six losses. The Lakers looked to pull off the upset against the heavily favored McCracken County Lady Mustangs who looked to keep their undefeated season alive.
McCracken County started off the scoring with a goal scored via a penalty kick outside the box being scored by Makenzie Burgett that sailed perfectly over the keeper’s head from just outside the box which made the score 1-0 in favor of the Lady Mustangs.
“It was great! I play defense mostly so I don’t get to score a lot and I don’t get that many opportunities so it was special,” said Burgett.
The Lady Mustangs would cap off the first half with a pair of goals scored by Kiera (KK) Tynes and Audrey (Rota) Estes to put the Mustangs up 3-0 at the break.
Despite Calloway County starting the second half with possession, the Lady Mustangs would quickly win back possession of the ball and continue the scoring spree to start the second half as Ashlyn Blackwell scored a goal off of a pass from Maddy Ledgerwood to put the Lady Stangs up 4-0 and Katelyn Heider would add her name to the scoresheet as she scored her 18th goal for the season and put extended the lead to 5-0.
Audrey Estes made the score 6-0 as she would find the net for the second time in the evening and add insult to injury in a pretty much-decided match. McCracken was able to work the ball back into the attacking zone and earn a corner kick which would be taken by Makenzie Burgett. Burgett’s kick would end up in a herd of players and get stuck between a pileup of players. While everyone was fighting for the ball, Savannah McDowell was able to find the ball and an opening to put the game away and give McCracken County the win 7-0.
According to Mackenzie Burgett, “As our season goes on, our schedule definitely gets a lot harder so our intensity in practice gets higher. Our coaches get more tough and we’re a lot harder on ourselves overall.” She also stated, “We’ve definitely been working on speed of play in practice and that really just shows on how many goals we score, we scored seven, so just team play in general and working together has been our main focus in practice.”
The Lady Mustangs hope to keep their undefeated season alive all the way to the state championship and hope for a lot of student support as they near tournament play.
