Lady Breds soccer downs Lady Crusaders in 9th semifinals

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds found a spot in the 9th Region title game with a 1-0 victory over St. Henry on Thursday at Ryle.

This marks NewCath’s first appearance in a regional title game since 2005. The Lady Breds lost 1-0 on a shootout to eventual state champion Highlands in the 10th Region title game that year.

“It’s a good feeling,” said Kevin Turnick, NewCath head coach. “We have a big opportunity in front of us. I always tell the girls that great moments come from great opportunities. They’re continuing to develop themselves. We hope to take advantage of it.”

NewCath has won all three postseason contests by a 4-0 count to move to 14-5-1. The Lady Breds defeated Highlands, 2-0 in the 36th District title game before recording 1-0 victories over Covington Holy Cross and St. Henry. NewCath lost 1-0 to the Lady Crusaders (15-6-2) on Oct. 1 in a game called at halftime because of thunderstorms.

St. Henry came into the season looking to win its second state title in three years thanks to the return of standout senior Libby Leedom. Leedom has committed to play at the next level for the University of Dayton.

“Basically, what we did is told (junior) Sam Bunzel to mark (Leedom) the entire game,” Turnick said. “You’re not going to prevent (Leedom) from getting touches. Sam did a good job of keeping her from doing anything dangerous and getting behind to get a clean (shot).”

The only goal of the game came in the first half. Sophomore Loren Zimmerman scored it for the Lady Breds and Nikki Buller had an assist.

Neither team put many shots on goal. This marked the sixth shutout of the year for NewCath sophomore goalkeeper Erin Ackerson.

The Lady Breds will have to take down the defending state champion Notre Dame Pandas at 3 p.m. Saturday at Ryle to make it to the state tournament.
Notre Dame comes into the game 21-2-1, including 17 shutouts. The Pandas won the regular-season matchup, 3-1 at Morscher Field.

“We have to play with the same philosophy that we did against St. Henry,” Turnick said. “You just try to slow them down as much as possible. They have a lot of weapons up top. We have to win at midfield and prevent a lot of opportunities for them. We’ve been changing formations quite a bit over the last couple games during the game. That’s benefitted us. We hope to do that if the situation calls for it.”

The Pandas are led by Ellie Eckerle with 17 goals. Teammates Mandy Arnzen and Katy Zembrodt follow with 11 and 10 respectively. They’ve outscored the competition 76-9. Goalkeeper Olivia Voskuhl has allowed just four goals and backup Nikki Zembrodt has given up just five.