Highlands Tuesday Results: Boys Soccer Wins Region Quarterfinal Game

Volleyball Falls on Senior Night

PHOTO: G. Michael Graham. Highlands junior Casey Stiles (41) makes a move in a recent game.

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The Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer team (18-4-1 overall) has done a good job scoring first in recent games.

But the Bluebirds hoped to keep it up Tuesday to help keep their postseason alive in the 9th Region quarterfinal match-up against the Cooper Jaguars (13-6-3) at Tower Park. They did that in a 4-1 victory.

"If you look at the course of the season, some of our tougher results or games where we weren't super satisfied at the end were a lot of times traced back to a slow start then playing a little bit of catch up," said Chad Niedert, Highlands Head Coach. "As of late, we've been taking it to teams. We have guys that are eager and willing to do the dirty jobs and put themselves in position to score more so than earlier in the year. So I'm really proud of how this team has evolved."

Highlands takes on Covington Catholic at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the region semifinals at St. Henry. The championship game takes place Saturday at 4 p.m. at Boone County. All four district champions advanced to the region semifinals.

It started when their leading point-scorer in junior forward Colin Pieper scored on a free kick in the first half. The Bluebirds did not look back from there.

Pieper scored two goals and had an assist in the first half to help the Bluebirds build a 3-1 halftime lead. He played a through ball to senior Jordan Frisk for the second Highlands goal. After Cooper earned one back, Pieper hit a dazzling free kick from 30 yards out to give the Bluebirds that halftime advantage. 

Sophomore Chad Gesenhues scored his 10th goal of the season for the lone goal of the second half to make the final score for the Bluebirds. Senior Joel Kendall played a free kick into the box and junior Casey Stiles headed into Gesenhues for his fourth assist of the season.

"It's been a big part of our game this season," Kendall said. "We've gotten a lot of goals off free kicks much more than last year. That's decided a lot of tight goals for us."

Pieper has a team-high 22 goals and nine assists for a team-high 53 points. Frisk has 18 goals and a team-high 11 assists for 47 points.

Highlands had 13 shots with five on goal to nine shots for Cooper. Sophomore goalkeeper Jack Wilson made eight saves.

Highlands had 16 fouls, one corner kick and six offsides calls. The Bluebirds did not have any red cards. The Bluebirds beat Cooper, 2-1 on Sept. 1 in Union. But the Jaguars scored first.

The Bluebirds have advanced to at least the region semifinals the previous six seasons. The last time they did not advance past the region quarterfinals took place Oct. 20, 2015 when Covington Catholic edged Highlands, 2-1 on penalty kicks in the 9th Region quarterfinals at Dixie Heights.

Volleyball:

Cooper 3, Highlands 0:

The Bluebirds (26-7) concluded the regular season honoring the nine seniors who have helped Highlands to three seasons of 25 or more wins outside of the 13-8 2020 campaign shortened by the Coronavirus 2019 pandemic during their four years of high school.

But Highlands could not find a way to beat 9th Region nemesis Cooper (20-10). The Lady Jaguars escaped in three sets by 25-16, 25-21, 25-23 scores. Cooper also beat Highlands in the Bluegrass Invitational in Lexington on Aug. 28.

This marked the 15th straight loss to the Lady Jaguars. Highlands last beat Cooper, 2-1 (25-17, 17-25, 15-13) on Sept. 19, 2009. Cooper opened in 2008.

Senior CC Shick is a four-year starter for Highlands. She had 10 kills, seven digs and one assisted block in the loss. The other eight seniors are Madison Clore, Honor Valentine, Madison Opitz, Lauren Buemi, Avery Cavacini, Sophia Sarakatsannis, Josie Steppe and Nicole Ossege.

Highlands had three aces, 35 kills and assists, two solo blocks by Buemi, two assisted blocks by Cavacini and Shick and 55 digs. Clore had 13 digs and Valentine had 10. Buemi had 11 kills and two digs. Sarakatsannis had nine digs and five kills. Opitz had 27 assists and eight digs and Ossege had seven kills.

Highlands Earns Statement Win to Conclude Regular Season

Bluebirds Explodes for Four Goal in First 15 Minutes of Second Half

PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. Highlands junior defender Evan Jones (19) and senior Cole Lorenzen (11) get in position on a corner kick.

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The Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer team (16-4-1 overall) wanted nothing more than to earn a huge win entering district tournament play.

In a battle of two teams with deep postseason aspirations, Highlands not only defeated but blitzed the 11th Region's Dunbar Bulldogs (13-3-2) from Lexington's west side, 5-2 at Tower Park on Saturday. The Bulldogs entered the game ranked second in the Commonwealth of Kentucky's MaxPreps rankings and Highlands ranked 11th.

"It's really comforting and it makes us confident because we've grown over these 21 games from where we started," said Chad Niedert, Highlands Head Coach. "They just put it to (Dunbar) from the beginning. It sends a message to our future opponents here nearby and hopefully, some that we'll see along the way. I'm just really proud of how our guys played across the board. We weren't letting ourselves get content with any of the goals that were coming as the second half wore on."

Highlands bounced back from a 5-0 loss on the road Thursday at Cincinnati Wyoming. The Bluebirds have won eight of their last nine games and finished 3-0 against teams from Lexington.

The Bluebirds had 20 shots including 15 on goal to 13 on goal for the Bulldogs. Highlands sophomore goalkeeper Jack Wilson recorded 11 saves.

The weather turned out nice and sunny with some clouds and light rain at one point during the game. But in the second half on the field when it rained, it poured for the Bluebirds. They turned a 1-1 halftime tie into a 5-1 lead in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

"We were actually pretty comfortable with where we were at halftime," Niedert said. "I don't know if I necessarily thought we were going to go up 5-1 with three goals real quick. We didn't feel like we needed to make a whole lot of adjustments. We just needed to continue doing what we were doing. Wyoming kind of exposed something in our attack and we were prepared to adapt for it. When we went up 3-1 against Dunbar, we tried that out and two goals came from it. I'm feel like we're going to be better suited going forward."

It started with a call Niedert said the team felt it should have received, but did not. The Bluebirds kept playing and their leading point-scorer in junior forward Colin Pieper found himself in a one-on-one situation on the right side overpowering the defender and scoring just under two minutes into the second half to put Highlands up for good at 2-1.

"I think Colin adjusted quickly realizing this game can be a little physical," Niedert said. "We like to tell our guys to control what you can. I'm loud on the sidelines. I get it. But at the same time, that's because I'm advocating for these guys. They know that I've got their back. But at the same time, we ultimately aren't going to be the ones that make the calls. We just have to respond to them."

Pieper finished the day with a hat trick of three goals. Pieper has a team-high 15 goals and eight assists for a team-high 44 points.

"We knew how tough (Dunbar) was going to be. We just had to come out strong in the second half," Pieper said. "We knew they had a new (goalkeeper) in goal. We knew what they looked like from the whole first half so we knew what to exploit so we talked about it at halftime. We came out stronger than them."

Pieper scored the lone Highlands goal of the first half with just under 26 left. Senior midfielder Cole Lorenzen played a through ball to him for the score. That marked Lorenzen's first assist of the season. The Bulldogs tied the game with 16:03 left in the half on a corner kick.

Senior Jordan Frisk put in a rebound off the pole from a junior midfielder Caden Schroeder shot to give Highlands a 3-1 advantage. Schroeder has five assists.

Minutes later, the Bluebirds drew a foul just outside the top of the box. Following a fake from a teammate, Pieper put one in for the hat trick giving Highlands a 4-1 advantage.

The final Highlands goal came with 25:34 left in the game. Frisk found junior midfielder Peyton Helminiak for the score that curled into the upper 90. Helminiak has three goals and Frisk 10 assists on the season.

The Bulldogs scored their last goal with 16:09 left in the game. Senior forward Issac Cano scored on a penalty kick. Cano scored team-highs of 20 goals and recorded seven assists for 47 points entering the game. Niedert credited the back line particularly senior Joel Kendall for keeping things simple on Cano.

"We just make sure the defense steps up," said Luke Fedders, Highlands junior defender on defending scoring threats like Cano. "We pressure and cover. If one defender gets beat, there is another one behind him."

Highlands committed 11 fouls in the physical game and had three offsides calls, three corner kicks and one yellow card. Dunbar finished with one yellow card.

Highlands Boys Soccer Defeats Holy Cross

Bluebirds Move to 4-0 in Region Play

PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. The Highlands boys soccer team knocked off Holy Cross, 5-3 on Tuesday at Tower Park.

The Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer team (5-2-1 overall) stayed undefeated in 9th Region action with a 5-3 win over the Covington Holy Cross Indians (4-4) on Tuesday.

Highlands is 4-0 in region play and also moved to 5-0 in games not played on Saturdays. The Bluebirds had 14 shots to nine for the Indians. Highlands also had 14 fouls and four corner kicks.

"In the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes of the first half, we just weren't doing the little things right. We were getting outworked and all that," said Chad Niedert, Highlands Head Coach. "Then we had this run in the middle of the first half where we scored our stretch of four goals. We did some things sharper like set pieces. They were very nice goals. We played how we should have been playing the whole game in that second half. Now we have to come with that same physicality and energy game in and game out."

Junior goalkeeper Connor Mathis and sophomore Jack Wilson again split halves for the Bluebirds. Mathis had two saves and Wilson had four.

Highlands led 4-3 at halftime. Senior Joel Kendall played one to sophomore Chad Gesenhues for an insurance goal for the lone goal of the second half for the Bluebirds. Gesenhues has four goals and Kendall two assists on the season. Gesenhues added his first assist of the season for three points.

Senior Jordan Frisk led Highlands with two goals and an assist for five points. Frisk has a team-high three goals and four assists on the season for 10 points.

Junior Caden Schroeder had one goal and one assist for three points. Schroeder has two goals and two assists on the season for six points.

"I believe as a team our passing greatly developed in that game and I hope we can keep improving as a team," Schroeder said. "If we can keep on improving, I think we will have a very good run this season."

Senior Sam Jones had the other Highlands goal and junior Colin Pieper had an assist. That marked the first goal for Jones and Pieper first assist. Pieper has a team-highs of five goals and 11 points.

Highlands travels to Cooper on Thursday. Game time is 8 p.m.

Highlands Boys Soccer Hits More Milestones

Bluebirds Earn Fifth Straight Win

PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. Highlands junior Joel Kendall (30) makes a move on Newport Central Catholic's Ryan Barth (11) in the 36th District championship Tuesday. The Bluebirds won 6-0.

The Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer team (9-3-2 overall) hit its stride late in the season and it continued in the 36th District championship at Tower Park on Tuesday.

The Bluebirds rolled to a 6-0 victory over the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds (8-5-1) for their fifth consecutive district championship and 10th straight win over the Thoroughbreds. The result and streaks are similar to what the Highlands female counterparts accomplished later in the day.

"We like to win games regardless of the steaks," said Chad Niedert, Highlands Head Coach. "But our region, as tough as it is, we set ourselves up in a better position with a one seed. But in our region at the same time, two seeds are pretty strong, too. We get another home game out of it."

Highlands has won six of its last seven games posting four shutouts with a 2-2 tie against Cincinnati (Ohio) Wyoming. The Bluebirds beat Louisville Trinity, 3-0 Saturday to conclude the regular season.

"It was a pretty good performance," said Eli Karnes, Highlands senior defensive midfielder. "It really shows what we can do further on in the year. The passing was really good. We worked on it in practice (Monday). If you get bodies across the goal, you can get it in. That's what we did."

Did the Highlands boys soccer team make it seven straight against Cambpell County?

G. Michael Graham Photo. Highlands junior Jason Schreiber (15) prepares to for a throw-in during Wednesday's game at Campbell County.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

ALEXANDRIA – The Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer team had been riding a defensive high in recent games.

Highlands edges NCC, 2-1 in another classic

G. Michael Graham Photo. Members of the Highlands and Newport Central Catholic soccer teams get in position for a corner kick in Tuesday's game. The Bluebirds won 2-1 in the season opener for both teams.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

Close soccer games often come down to two things.

That is either a well-executed run-out or the opponent not stepping forward to clear the ball in its defensive box. The Highlands Bluebirds ended up doing the extra things to beat their 36th District rival Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds, 2-1 on Tuesday at Tower Park.

Highlands continued to dominate the series between the two schools about two miles apart. The Bluebirds improved to 12-1-2 against the Thoroughbreds since 2004. NewCath’s lone win during that stretch came 1-0 in the district championship game last year.

“We absolutely hope that (momentum) carries on,” said Matthew Winkler, Highlands head coach. “It was a fantastic crowd. Playing NC, it’s always a big game. It’s kind of one of those scary situations where if we drop off, it could hurt us really bad. If we keep this momentum, we could do well the rest of the week.”

NewCath outshot Highlands, 10-6. But Highlands goalkeepers Nick Breslin and Nathan Tippenhauer recorded three and five saves in the first and second halves respectively. They also had plenty of help from their teammates in clearing balls, especially late in the game.

“It’s a matter of positioning yourself with other defenders to make sure one person is covering the back,” said Devin Dupont, Highands junior. “We need to move as a unit and keep together as a team. We can’t do anything stupid in the box.”

Thoroughbred goalkeeper Paul Grosser also had a good game. The junior recorded four saves.

“I expected a tight game,” said Mike McDonald, NewCath head coach. “We have some things to work on. You get the first game of the season out of the way. We learn and we move on. Defensively in the center of the field, we lost our marks.”

Highlands scored both of its goals from 40 yards out. The first one came with 1:38 left in the first half. Cole Davis-Roberts drew a foul outside the box and scored on the free kick. Davis-Roberts also drew a penalty kick opportunity with 11:10 left in the game, but Grosser slid to his left to deflect the shot away.

The Bluebirds added to their 1-0 halftime lead just 4:33 into the second half. Chris Garbig also scored from about 40 yards out to put Highlands up 2-0.

“I took a touch forward, looked up and the far (right) post was wide open. I took the opportunity,” Garbig said. “You have to strike (the ball) as clean as possible and make sure the laces are coming through the ball and stay over it making sure you keep it low.”

Winkler and staff said they would love to see more shots like that. Garbig and Davis-Roberts play big scoring roles in Highlands’ 4-4-2 and 3-5-1 (defender-midifielder-forward) attacks.

“Chris (Garbig) and Cole (Davis-Roberts) are really talented,” Winkler said. “They have really good confidence behind the ball. When they see the keeper is off his line or off to the side, I’m okay with them taking that risk (of long shots). Two of them paid off for us.”

The Thoroughbreds then scored their only goal eight seconds later. Senior midfielder Connor Hanneken put one in for NewCath. The Thoroughbreds run a 4-4-2 attack.

“We just have to take advantage of our opportunities,” McDonald said. “We haven’t had a prolific scorer since Austin (Juniet, a 2012 NC graduate). We have a couple guys who are mature enough to do it. It was not for a lack of effort. It was for a lack of good play.”

Both teams return to action Thursday. Highlands plays host to St. Henry at 8 p.m. and NewCath plays host to Conner at 6 p.m.

Bluebirds aim for better finish to season

 

G. Michael Graham Photo. The Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer team prepares to take the field during a recent practice. The Bluebirds hope to improve on last season's 10-9-1 record.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

Last year, Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer Head Coach Matthew Winkler said teams need to be playing their best soccer to go far in the postseason.

The Bluebirds appeared to be doing that as postseason approached. They recorded four straight shutouts outscoring the opposition by a combined 12-0.

But things quickly turned starting with a 2-0 loss to the 2011 state runner-up Ryle Raiders. That followed with 1-0 postseason losses to the rival Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds in the 36th District championship and to host St. Henry in the 9th Region quarterfinals. Highlands finished the season 10-9-1 as a result.

The Bluebirds did graduate a nice group of seniors from that team including leading goal-scorer Ethan Schmits with eight and assists leader Michael Cirulli with six. But they do return some experienced players determined to do better when the postseason comes around this year.

“There is a lot of determination here,” Winkler said. “It’s a lot of luck. But on any given day, teams can show up and win. The regular season is used to prepare for the postseason.”

Highlands outscored the opposition, 44-25 last year. The Bluebirds recorded seven shutouts including a 1-0 decision over eventual 9th Region champion and state semifinalist Boone County and were shut out as many times.

The Bluebirds like to run a mixture of 4-4-2 and 3-5-1 (defender-midfielder-forward) sets. They list 10 seniors and eight juniors battling for spots.

“We lost a lot of seniors so we’re putting a lot of guys in new positions,” Winkler said. “We’re working that out. We had a scrimmage last week and did some good things and bad things. We want to get stronger on defense and our offense will come.”

Two of the returning players are senior midfielder Chris Garbig and senior defender Cole Davis-Roberts. The other seniors are Alex Shepherd, Andre Barnes, Colin Dean, Jimmy Penrod, Jordan Jarvis, Jovid Llerena, Mitch Gesenhues and Nathan Tippenhauer.

“It’s about communication and trusting each other,” Davis-Roberts said. “We have to make sure everyone is working along on the same page. Every day is a process. We have to focus and get better every day.”

Junior Nick Breslin returns at goalkeeper for the Bluebirds. But Tippenhauer is battling for time there. The other juniors are Adam Barbro, Brady Dean, Dakota Tate, Devin Dupont, Eric Schurr, Logan Groneck and Vadim Lightner. Dupont tied for second on the team with six goals last year.

The Bluebirds again field three teams this year. The junior varsity team coached by Neal Frink is mostly made of sophomores and the freshmen team coached by Michael Eaton is coached by Michael Eaton. Dave Kraus serves as a varsity assistant.

Highlands boasts an overall record of 348-201-32 since the program in school history. The Bluebirds own 15 district championships, four region championships and finished state runner-up to Louisville St. Xavier in 2008.

Highlands opens the season on Aug. 20 against Newport Central Catholic. Game time is 8 p.m.