Wednesday Soccer Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands Ladybirds soccer team continued to struggle Wednesday with another one-goal loss.

Tuesday Sports Briefs

Allen Ramsey Photo. Highlands junior Noah Sellers (7) and teammates battle Covington Catholic Parker Kenney for the ball in Tuesday's game at Tower Park. The Bluebirds won 2-0.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands Bluebirds soccer team recorded a huge 2-0 victory over the Covington Catholic Colonels on Tuesday.

Saturday Soccer Roundup

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands Bluebirds girls soccer team tied the host Boyle County Lady Rebels on Saturday, 2-2.

Highlands (4-6-5) recorded its second straight tie and is winless in its last four games. Freshman Kayla Nehus scored both Highlands goals and senior goalkeeper Sarah Owen recorded two saves.

The Bluebirds play host to Dixie Heights on Monday. Game time is 8 p.m.

Thursday Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands Bluebirds boys soccer team (7-4-1) saw its five-game winning streak snapped Thursday at Covington Catholic, 3-2.

Chris Garbig and Cole Davis-Roberts scored the goals for Highlands. Nick Breslin made four saves at goalkeeper with Nathan Tippenhauer making one.

Highlands returns to action Saturday at Tower Park against Louisville St. Francis. Game time is 5:30 p.m.

Soccer, Boys:

Newport Central Catholic 3, Madison Central 1:

The Thoroughbreds (8-3-1) recorded a road win rebounding from Wednesday’s tough 2-1 to Bishop Brossart in the All “A” Section Tournament on Tuesday.

Matt Tolle, Evan Brannon and Pat Louis scored goals for NewCath. Teammate Paul Grosser made six saves.

NewCath does not play again for another week. The Thoroughbreds travel to Harrison County for a 7:30 p.m. contest.

Volleyball:

St. Henry 3, NewCath 0:

The 9th Region power Lady Crusaders downed the visiting Lady Breds, 27-25, 25-20, 25-22. NewCath fell to 8-9 with the loss.

NewCath plays in the Cincinnati Mother of Mercy Tournament starting Saturday. The Thoroughbreds face two Ohio schools in Dublin Coffman at 1 p.m. and Toledo Central Catholic at 2 p.m.

Thursday Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands Ladybirds volleyball team concluded the regular season with a 2-0 (25-12, 25-19) loss at Lexington Lafayette on Thursday. Highlands fell to 11-22.

Second-seeded Highlands takes on Bellevue in the District 36 semifinals Tuesday at Newport High at 6:30 p.m. Top-seeded Newport Central Catholic will face either Dayton or Newport at 5:30 p.m. and the winners meet for the district championship at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Bishop Brossart bests NewCath soccer:

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds soccer team (3-9-5) dropped a tight one, 1-0 at Bishop Brossart (18-1-1) on Thursday.

Nathan Grosser had another big game at goalkeeper for NewCath. He recorded 10 saves.

NewCath takes on Highlands in the 36th District title game on Thursday at 8 p.m.

Beechwood, NewCath cancelled:

The Beechwood and Newport Central Catholic women’s soccer teams hoped to make up a rained out soccer game from earlier in the year. But Beechwood cancelled it.

NewCath (11-4-1) takes on Highlands in the District 36 title game on Thursday at 8 p.m.

Tuesday Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands Bluebirds soccer team rolled to its fourth straight shutout with a 6-0 blanking of the Covington Holy Cross Indians on Tuesday at Tower Park.

The Bluebirds moved to 10-6-2 overall. Holy Cross (5-11-1) made one shot and Nick Breslin stopped it en route to Highlands’ seventh shutout this season.

Petr Carter scored the only goal of the first half for Highlands before the Bluebirds exploded for five goals in the second half. Emerson Holladay and Christian Austin added Highlands goals to make it 3-0 before a key point in the game.

The Bluebirds tried to prevent the Indians from touching the ball before it went out of bounds. That’s when things became heated. Highlands received a yellow card and a Holy Cross player received a red card and the Bluebirds had a man advantage the rest of the game.

Colin Dean started the onslaught with a score with 14:19 left in the game. Ethan Schmits scored with 6:10 left and Cole Davis-Roberts finished the scoring with 5:30 to go.

The Bluebirds conclude the regular season at 8 p.m. Thursday against the 2011 state runner-up Ryle Raiders (14-4-1).

Highlands volleyball downs Bellevue:

The Ladybirds downed the Bellevue Lady Tigers,  -0 (25-8, 26-24, 25-17) on Senior Night to move to 11-21 overall Tuesday.

Monday Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

Rain forced the cancellation of soccer games Monday. The Highlands Ladybirds did not make the trip to Cooper and the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds did not take on Holmes.

The Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds (11-5-1) and St. Henry (12-4-1) Lady Crusaders did play a half. St. Henry won 1-0. The Lady Breds conclude the regular season Thursday against Beechwood. The Thoroughbreds travel to Scott for an 8 p.m. contest Tuesday.

Highlands plays at Covington Holy Cross to conclude the regular season on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

Highlands downs NewCath, 2-0

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

It was as even of a game as expected.

The Highlands Bluebirds and Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds soccer teams got off 11 shots a piece. But the Bluebirds connected on two of them in a 2-0 victory on Saturday at Tower Park.

The Bluebirds snapped a three-game winless streak to move to 7-6-2 overall and 2-4-2 since starting the year 5-2. They also moved to 11-0-2 against NewCath since 2004.

“It does not matter if we’re having a good year, an off year or if they’re having a good year or off year, this is always a fantastic game,” said Matthew Winkler, Highlands head coach. “(NewCath head coach) Mike (McDonald) and I get along really well so it’s fun to bring the squads together and see where we are. After the last couple weeks, it’s really nice to have a decent win. We’ll see where we can go from there.”

NewCath dropped to 2-6-4. The Thoroughbreds once again played good defense but could not manufacture goals. They’ve been outscored 20-14 this year.

“We made big mistakes in the back,” McDonald said. “When we do that, we give up goals. That’s what it came down to (Saturday). Once we get everybody on the same page playing as a team, we’ll be good. We have talent all over the field. We just have to put it together.”

Both goalkeepers made big saves with a lot of help defensively. Highlands goalkeeper Nick Breslin made 11 saves and NewCath counterpart Nathan Grosser made nine. Highlands defenders like Jimmy Penrod, Alex Shepherd and Franklin Graves constantly booted balls away from the goal.

Wednesday/Thursday Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Highlands Bluebirds soccer team tied Simon Kenton, 2-2 Wednesday.

Michael Cirulli and Christian Austin scored goals for the Bluebirds. Colin Dean and Franklin Graves had assists for Highlands (6-6-2), and Nick Breslin had five saves in net.

Highlands takes on NewCath on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Tower Park.

NewCath soccer ties Conner:

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds soccer team tied the Conner Cougars, 1-1 Thursday.

Conner Guthier scored the lone goal for NewCath (2-5-4). Goalkeeper Nathan Grosser had five saves for the Thoroughbreds.

NewCath faces off against Highlands on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Cooper bests NCC volleyball:

The Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds saw their three-match winning streak snapped with a 25-23, 28-26 loss at Cooper on Thursday.

The usual three led the Lady Breds (8-14). Nikki Kiernan had 12 kills and Alyssa Maier recorded 18 assists. Teammate Maria Froendhoff added 16 digs.

NewCath plays in the Fall Classic at Mother of Mercy (Ohio) over the weekend.

Tuesday Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

 

The Highlands Bluebirds soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision to the Bishop Brossart Mustangs at Tower Park on Tuesday. Brossart’s Jordan Frommeyer scored the game’s lone goal in the second half.

The Bluebirds fell to 6-6-1 and the Mustangs improved to 12-1. Highlands is 1-4-1 in its last six contests since start the season 3-0.

Both teams got off four shots. Sophomore Nick Breslin saved three for the Bluebirds.

Highlands travels to Independence to take on Simon Kenton at 7 p.m. tonight.

NewCath ties Cooper:

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds traveled to Cooper and tied the Jaguars, 2-2 Tuesday.

Matt Tolle and Sam Barth scored goals for NCC (2-5-3) and Zane Ross scored both goals for Cooper (7-5-1). Tolle has five goals in three games. The Thoroughbreds outshot the Jaguars, 17-6.

NewCath travels to Conner for a 7 p.m. match Thursday.

Lady Breds give defending state champs good game:

The Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds put up a fight against the defending state champion Notre Dame Pandas (12-2-1), but came up short 3-1.

NewCath (9-3-1) received its lone goal from MiKayla Seibert. Goalkeeper Erin Ackerson made four saves.

NewCath travels to Winchester to face George Rogers Clark at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Lady Breds win Poage Landings Tourney; Ladybirds drop game to Sacred Heart

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
The Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds soccer team won the round-robin Poage Landings Tournament over the weekend at Ashland Blazer and Russell High Schools. Poage Landings is the former name of Ashland.
NewCath beat host Blazer, 4-1 and Pulaski Southwestern, 6-1 Saturday. Sam Bunzel, Caroline Kinnett, Christina Seibert and Courtney Hagedorn scored goals against Blazer and Erin Ackerson made one save in net for NCC. Against Southwestern, Loren Zimmerman scored two goals with teammates Chandler Cain, Seibert, Allie Otten and Jenna Voet scoring the others.
The Lady Breds then beat Russell, 2-1 Sunday to improve to 9-2-1 overall. Cain and Zimmerman scored the goals for NewCath and Ackerson made four saves.
The Lady Breds take on defending state champion Notre Dame (11-2) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Pendery Park. The top-ranked Pandas took down Louisville Assumption, 2-1 in the Lexington Catholic Cup on Saturday.
Louisville Sacred Heart dominates Highlands:
The Highlands Ladybirds hoped to snatch one win in the Lexington Catholic Cup on Saturday.
Instead, Sacred Heart scored as many goals in one game as the Ladybirds have scored all season in an 8-0 victory. Highlands is 2-8-2 overall including 0-8-2 against teams outside of Boone County. The Ladybirds have a six-game winless streak and have been shut out seven times this year. They were outscored 15-1 in the tournament featuring seven ranked teams.
Sarah Owen and Jesse Daley once again split time at goalkeeper for the Ladybirds. Owen had four saves and Daley made two.
Highlands travels to Woodford County (4-3) on Saturday at 8 p.m. The game against Newport Central Catholic was moved to Sept. 26.

Wednesday Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
The Highlands Ladybirds soccer team dropped its third straight Wednesday, 3-1 to the Woodford County Lady Yellow Jackets in the Lexington Catholic Challenge Cup.
Junior Kelsey Etherton scored the lone goal for Highlands. It marked her first goal of the year and just the eighth all season for the Ladybirds, who dropped to 2-7-2 and have a five-game winless streak.
Woodford County had just four shots the entire game and connected on all but one of them. Jesse Daley made that one save in her half at goalkeeper.
Highlands takes on Louisville Sacred Heart on Saturday at 1 p.m. for seventh place in the cup.
Lady Breds beat Lady Camels:
The Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds soccer team bounced back from a one-goal loss Monday against Dixie Heights with a 1-0 win at Campbell County on Wednesday.
Loren Zimmerman scored the game's long goal for the Lady Breds and Erin Ackerson recorded her fourth shutout of the season at goalkeeper. NewCath improved to 6-2-1 overall and Campbell County fell to 7-4-1.
NewCath plays in the Ashland/Russell Invitational on Saturday. The Lady Breds take on Ashland Blazer at 11 a.m. and Pulaski Southwestern at 4 p.m. before battling Russell at 2 p.m. Sunday.
NCC volleyball beats Holmes:
The Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds volleyball team downed Covington Holmes, 2-0 (25-7, 25-15) Wednesday to move to 7-13 overall.
Holmes fell to 5-17.
Senior Maria Froendhoff led NCC with five aces and five digs. Teammates Alyssa Maier and Nikki Kiernan led the Lady Breds with 16 assists and eight kills.
NCC does not play again until Tuesday. The Lady Breds play host to Highlands at 7:30 p.m. in a huge District 36 showdown.

Weekend Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
The Highlands Bluebirds soccer team faced off against the 11-time state champion Louisville St. Xavier Tigers on Saturday in Louisville.
The Tigers came away with a 2-0 victory to improve to 10-0 overall. Highlands is 5-4-1. The Bluebirds had not played a week after the game at Campbell County on Tuesday was cancelled and the Thursday game against Simon Kenton moved to Sept. 19.
Sophomore goalkeeper Nick Breslin made eight saves.
Highlands plays host to Cincinnati Anderson at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday.
NewCath ties Lexington Christian:
The Newport Central Catholic Lady Breds soccer team tied Lexington Christian, 1-1 Saturday in Lexington.
NewCath is 5-1-1 and Lexington Christian is 3-5-2. LCA finished state runner-up to St. Henry in 2010.
Michela Ware scored the lone goal for the Lady Breds. Erin Ackerson had four saves in goal for NewCath.
The Lady Breds take on Dixie Heights at 6 p.m. Monday.
Thorougbreds drop close one to Crusaders:
The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds soccer team fell 2-1 at home against the St. Henry Crusaders on Saturday. They are 1-5-1 overall.
Senior Sam Barth scored the lone goal for the Thoroughbreds and Nathan Grosser had 12 saves in goal for NewCath.
NewCath travels to Boone County on Tuesday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
NewCath volleyball drops three:
The Newport Central Catholic volleyball team played in the rugged Louisville Invitational Volleyball Tournament over the weekend.
The Lady Breds went 1-4 to move to 5-13 on the season. They fell in Pool 2 action Friday to Ryle, 2-0 (25-16, 25-13) and St. Joseph, Mo., 2-0 (25-9, 25-18) before losing to South Oldham on Saturday, 2-0 (25-13, 25-18) and 2011 state runner-up Greenwood, 2-1 (16-25, 25-22, 25-13). But NewCath did finish the tournament with a 2-0 win over Lexington Catholic, 25-16, 25-23.
NewCath takes on Bishop Brossart (10-2) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday Sports Briefs

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
The Highlands Bluebirds soccer team was to play at Campbell County on Tuesday. However, excessive rains over the weekend forced the cancellation of the game.
The Bluebirds (5-3-1 overall) travel to Simon Kenton on Thursday. Game time is 8 p.m.
NewCath ties Montgomery County in Sweet 16 rematch:
The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbred soccer team traveled to Mount Sterling and came away with a scoreless tie against the Montgomery County Indians on Tuesday.
The Indians bested the Thoroughbreds, 1-0 in the Sub-Sectional round of the state tournament last year. The Indians then lost to eventual state runner-up Ryle.
NewCath (1-4-1 overall) saw goalkeeper Nathan Grosser record 13 saves. The Thoroughbreds had nine shots, but none hit the back of the net.
The Thoroughbreds travel to Cooper on Thursday for a 7 p.m. contest.

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.