Playing in their final regular-season game Saturday morning at Warren East, a depleted Lady Cougar soccer team fell 4-0 to the Lady Raiders.
Head coach Elizabeth Smart had to cobble together a starting team minus four of its starters. Two were on vacation, another, junior defender Grace Bernahard, was out with a knee injury, and Ellie Evans, the team’s second leading scorer, was running for the Lady Cougar cross country team in Lexington.
The Lady Raiders turned out to be a well-disciplined team, making sure, quick passes, and being in the right positions for drops all day. Senior forward Hannah Blankenship scored three of the four Warren East goals.
It was a very hot day, made even hotter for the players on the field because of the blue turf on the field. The Lady Cougars struggled to keep up as the normal substitution patterns were disrupted because of the absences.
The Lady Raiders controlled possession in the Grayson County end for most of the game and the Lady Cougars did not have a shot on goal on the day.
Blankenship made it 1-0 in the 17th minute when she gained control following a scrum in front of the Grayson County goal and put the loose ball past Lady Cougar goalie Laura Vincent.
Twelve minutes later Blankenship scored again to make it 2-0, which is how the first half ended.
Blankenship scored her final goal 17 minutes into the second half following a nice crossing pass. That made it 3-0, and it became 4-0 five minutes later when sophomore Lucy Patterson scored. Patterson had threatened the Lady Cougar goal on several occasions, and finally got one to go in.
Grayson County (8-10) now moves on to host the 11th District Tournament, where they will face an up-and-coming Breckinridge County Lady Tiger team (5-10) Monday evening at 7 p.m. The Lady Cougars won their first tussle with Breck, 2-1, but lost the second game 1-0. That game marked the first time ever that the Lady Tigers had defeated Grayson County, so it should be a close game. Meade County (8-4-3) will face Butler County (2-8) in the first game at 5:30 p.m.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
