Here we go again. Oldham Co faces perennial state power South Oldham in the region 8 final. But this year, the Colonels finished a respectable 13th in the final regular season poll, they always say it's tough to beat a team three times in one season, and odds say the streak....that awful streak of losing to the Lady Dragons has to end sometime. How sweet would be the taste of upsetting the #2 ranked team in the state on their home field to put them out of the state tournament.
Wow!! This year it only took 44 seconds for Oldham County's dream of an upset to be shattered. In what is always an emotionally charged contest, a forearm to the back, in the box, resulted in a foul and subsequent penalty kick for South Oldham. Coach Tucker assigned sharp shooter Stephanie Hay to do the honors, and she delivered to put the Lady Dragons up early 1-0.
The match was physical from the start and if there was a stategic attempt by OC to "intimidate" their opponents, it backfired. The officiating squad was busy this evening in an effort to keep the game under control. Many fouls were called and even the Colonel Coach received a yellow card with about 30 minutes left in the 1st half after expressing his opinion of a call or two.
To their credit, the SOHS team responded in kind and played through the distractions in a game where momentum went back and forth with each team making short runs. At the 25:01 mark in the first half, Tamryn Tuller fed Kristen Young who scored the final goal of the period to put South up 2-0 at the break.
Although down 0-2, the Colonels weren't about to lay down and made it competitive in the second half. The Lady Dragon defense answered the charge however, with some great stops. Michelle Huber and the Moore sisters did a great job deflecting the OC offensive in the second half. Then with 28:06 to go, Stephanie Hay scored again, when she took an assist from Amanda Moore and nailed her 2nd goal of the game for a 3-0 lead.
Though running out of time, Oldham County showed some determination and finished strong offensively in the last five minutes of the game putting the SOHS goalie under the gun. With 2:51 left in the game Ally Tucker made a nice stop on an OC free kick from just outside the box. About 50 seconds later, Tucker stretched to make a great play by tipping another Colonel free kick up and over the crossbar to save a potential score. There must have been a half-dozen or so fouls called during this stretch and with 39 seconds left, OC avoided the shutout by finally scoring off another free kick.
Representing SOHS on the All-Tournament team were Stephanie Hay, Michelle Huber, Amanda Moore, and Katie Moore. Kudos also to the strong parental and alumni support at tonights game..
