Highlands-Notre Dame to meet for 9th Region Girls Soccer crown; NC volleyball claims 36th District Title

G. Michael Graham Photo. Highlands junior Taylor Vaughn (center) plays the ball back while Brooklynn Rivers (9) watches. Rivers scored a goal and assisted on the game-winner as the Bluebirds advanced to the 9th Region championship with a 2-1 win over the Ryle Lady Raiders.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

CRESTVIEW HILLS – Recent scores showed how close these two soccer teams matched up in the recent two seasons.

That was the case again as the Highlands Bluebirds edged the Ryle Lady Raiders, 2-1 in sudden death overtime on Wednesday at Dixie Heights in the 9th Region semifinals. Highlands has won three straight postseason games after going 5-7-5 in the regular season against a tough schedule to play for its first region crown in two years.

“We emphasize that no matter what the situation is in the game, don’t get too high and don’t get too low,” said Tommy Kearns, Highlands Head Coach. “We try to stay focused even though it’s very difficult at times, especially in the postseason when it’s win or go home. We were resilient, held on and came home with a win. If you’re in the region final in this area of the state, you’re doing something right.”

Senior midfielder Lauren Daly scored the game-winning goal with about two minutes left in the first overtime on the right side of the Ryle goal. Sophomore Brooklynn Rivers dribbled to the left and crossed one to her for the game-winner.

“Brooklynn is really good at getting up the field,” Daly said. “Just as an outside mid, your job is to get up so I knew that even though she’s going to get the ball up the field, I still have to get up and do my best to try to put in the goal. I got in front of the (Ryle defender) and guided it in with my body. The whole team put forth a good effort into winning the game.”

Highlands faces the familiar Notre Dame Pandas (19-2-3) for the championship at 1:30 p.m. Saturday back at Dixie Heights. Highlands lost 3-0 to Notre Dame at Tower Park on Aug. 29. But the Bluebirds came back to beat the Pandas, 2-1 in the Lexington Catholic Cup semifinals on Sept. 18. Highlands is the only region team to beat Notre Dame this year.

“They had a turning point in the midseason and have definitely come on,” said Notre Dame Head Coach Sara McSorely of the Bluebirds. “You can’t county anybody out who’s still around in the postseason. It’s a fun rivalry and I think everybody is going to be ready to play.”

Highlands lost 4-1 to eventual state champion Notre Dame two years ago in the final year of the old 10th Region. The Bluebirds lost 2-1 on penalty kicks to Dixie Heights in the 9th Region quarterfinals last year.

Highlands last won a region crown in 2010 following three appearances in the state championship game in four years. The Bluebirds won consecutive state titles in 2005 and 2006 and finished runner-up in 2008.

The two teams opened the previous two seasons against each other with close games. Highlands and Ryle (14-5-1) tied 2-2 on Aug. 19 of this year at Tower Park and Highlands edged Ryle just 1-0 to open last season in Union.

Highlands outshot Ryle, 23-15 including 14-9 on goal. Highlands goalkeeper Sara Owen made seven saves and Ryle goalkeepers Brianna Collins and Hannah Poe combined to make nine.

The teams battled to a 0-0 tie after the first half. Both teams had their chances. Rivers broke free with 5:47 left in the half but Poe made the nice save.

Ryle’s lone goal came on a penalty kick with 32:47 remaining. Jill Davenport put it to the left away from Owen. Other than that, the Highlands back line had another great game clearing balls outside the Ryle attacking third.

“One of our main keys is I try to stay back more,” said Peyton Bankemper, Highlands junior defender/midfielder. “Then Brooke Dougherty or whoever else is there with me tries to go up to where we can keep up with the opponents more. That helps us make sure the ball does not get past us.”

Highlands tied the game on a free kick with 5:43 remaining. Rivers scored from the right of the goal.

“Brooklynn had a great free kick with five minutes left in the game,” Kearns said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game against Ryle. (The Lady Raiders) are a strong team in the air. They battled us hard and really took it to us in the middle of the field.”

The game was played pretty clean. Neither team drew a red or yellow card.

Notre Dame 6, Newport Central Catholic 0:

Lady Bred Head Coach Kevin Turnick said NewCath needed to slow down the Panda offensive attack.

That didn’t happen as Notre Dame outshot NewCath, 28-4 including 22-3 on goal in the semifinal route out of its 4-4-2 (defender-forward-midfielder) attack. Meg Martin recorded 14 saves for the Lady Breds to keep the game from getting worse and Courtney Hansel had three for the Pandas. The Lady Breds also ran a 4-4-2 scheme.

Despite the lopsided score, Martin and the NewCath defense kept Notre Dame off the scoreboard until 16:44 remained in the first half. Martin had a huge stop on a Notre Dame shot then rebound about six minutes into the game.

It took about a dozen shots for the Pandas to score when Taylor Watts scored. Notre Dame led 2-0 at halftime when Carlee Clemmons scored on a pass from Maddie Tierney with 13:35 remaining.

The Pandas pulled away with four goals in the second half. Zoe Stovik, Carissa Dyer, Mandy Arnzen and Megan Berberich scored the goals for Notre Dame.

“It’s good to see we’re scoring in a variety of ways and a lot of people are stepping up to contribute because that’s what it takes in the postseason,” McSorley said. “Defensively, we knew they had offensive threats. We knew who to watch and I felt like our girls did a really good job of keeping composed and focused. When the defense is composed, it flows in with the offense.”

The Lady Breds (13-4-4) still won the All “A” State and Ashland Invitational championships. They graduate Sam Bunzel, Amanda Schabell, Chandler Cain, Caroline Kinnett, Allie Otten and MacKenzie Freeman.

Volleyball:

36th Championship:

Newport Central Catholic 3, Highlands 0:

The host Lady Breds (16-16) won the district title with another convincing 3-0 (25-6, 25-19, 25-17) win over the arch-rival Bluebirds (13-22). NewCath has won 17 of 18 against Highlands.

Tournament Most Valuable Player Alyssa Maier led NewCath with 26 assists, three kills and three blocks. Rachel McDonald and Keyaira Lankheit also made the all-tournament team helping NewCath once again dominate the net. McDonald had 10 kills and five digs with Lankheit recording seven kills and four blocks.

“We had a lot of good blocks,” said Vickie Fleissner, NewCath Head Coach. “Keyaira was a huge factor again. They have to worry about getting around her. That changes the opposing teams’ swings.”

Nikki Kiernan and Madison Volk also had good game for NewCath. Kiernan had four kills, three aces and two blocks and Volk had six digs.

Jessica Ginter and Kaitlin Hall made the all-tournament team for Highlands. Fleissner said Highlands made things tougher for NewCath in the second and third games after the rough first game.

Both teams play in the 9th Region tournament at Ryle next week.