Weekend Sports Report

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands men’s soccer team edged Pendleton County, 4-3 on Saturday at Tower Park to improve to 2-0 overall.

Ethan Schmits led the Bluebirds with two goals. Teammates Devin Dupont and Chris Garbig had one each. Andrew Barnes, Mitchell Gesenhues and Jordan Jarvis had one assist a piece for Highlands.

The Wildcats (1-1) saw three different players score. Harper Aven, Travis Brinkman and Max Dewald had goals for Pendleton Countyh with Brinkman, MacKenzie Colvin and Jacob Farwell notching one assist each.

Highlands plays in the Kentucky Cup at Louisville Ballard this week. The Bluebirds open up with Louisville Collegiate on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

Big week for Highlands women’s soccer:

The Highlands women’s soccer team will take on some tough competition this week.

It begins tonight with a battle against the St. Henry Crusaders at 7:30 p.m. at Tower Park. The Crusaders are 1-1 with a 5-0 win over Beechwood and a 2-1 loss at Woodford County on Saturday.

The Crusaders return 2011 Kentucky Player of the Year Libby Leedom, a 5-foot-8-inch midfielder/forward. Leedom, a University of Dayton commit, scored 23 goals and had 13 assists and led the Crusaders to the 2010 state championship.

Highlands then faces Lexington Catholic at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. The Lady Knights are 1-1-1 with a 4-2 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday. They tied Louisville Sacred Heart, 1-1 but knocked off Louisville Assumption, 2-0.

The week concludes with a trip to Park Hills to face the defending state champion Notre Dame Pandas on Saturday at 7 p.m. Notre Dame graduated a lot from last year, but does return senior all-state goalkeeper Olivia Voskuhl, senior striker Ellie Eckerle and senior defender Alex Lonnemann.

NewCath soccer gets first win:

After two close calls, the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds soccer team dented the win column with a 2-0 win over Covington Holy Cross on Saturday.

NewCath (1-2) dropped a tough one to Pendleton County, 1-0 on Thursday.

The Thoroughbreds play in the All “A” Regional Tournament at St. Henry later in the week.