Final

Outstanding! Way to go Colonels. Great way to get the state-bound train rolling... next stop Lexington!

Colonels really dominated this game IMO. 3 or 4 scoring chances for Mercer but that's it. Great defensive effort with goals by Schutt, Deimling and Lamb.

Congratulations, Colonels!!

Great season, Titans! Nothing to be ashamed of.

Colonels will face Collegiate on Saturday in Lexington. Should be a great game.

I would love to catch this one. I have seen both teams play this year. I would give Collegiate the edge, but CC can certainly hang with them.

Yikes. The small school giant. Where is this game being played?

Yikes. The small school giant. Where is this game being played?

 

Location is still TBD but I believe it is in Lexington someplace.

From the Danville Advocate-Messenger:

 

Titans fall to defending state champ Covington Catholic

 

COVINGTON — Defending state champion Covington Catholic proved to be too tall a task for the Mercer County boys soccer team in the first round of the KHSAA state tournament Tuesday night.

 

The Colonels used two second-half goals to help seal a 3-0 victory, ending the Titans record-breaking season. Mercer tied a school record for wins in a season (21), while breaking the school record for goals in a season (106) and least amount of losses (3).

 

“That’s a good team. We’ve got to give them credit, they played well tonight. I don’t think it is anything necessarily that we did bad, it is just they finished shots and we weren’t able to do that tonight,” Mercer County coach Garrett Stark said.

 

Coming into the game, the Titans were ranked No. 7 in the state while Covington Catholic was ranked No. 6. Tuesday night, the Colonels looked like they may well be the top team in the state for the second straight season.

 

Just 12 minutes into the game, the Colonels got a goal from senior Steven Schutt as he placed his shot from 35 yards out just above the outstretched arms of Mercer goalkeeper Zack Phillips.

 

“I just wanted them to come out and play well. I think the first ten minutes we were a little nervous and that was expected. You get in these big games and players are thinking about that. We tried to relax today, but that first ten minutes affected us somewhat,” Stark said.

 

Despite giving up the early goal, the Titans settled down for the remaining 28 minutes, as the score remained the same at halftime.

 

Stark admitted he didn’t think his team was getting enough scoring opportunities in the opening half, so he switched things up to begin the second.

 

“We were hoping to get some deep attacks and get some scoring opportunities,” Stark said.

 

Unfortunately it didn’t work out for the Titans, as Covington Catholic struck again just seven minutes into the second half as Nathan Deimling netted his 10th goal of the season.

 

Again, Stark changed up his formation for one last effort, but to no avail. Covington Catholic senior Griffin Lamb scored his 31st goal of the season with six minutes remaining for the Colonels final score of the night.

 

“In the end we switched up to a 3-5-2, which is obviously a little more risky and ended up giving up that last goal because of that,” Stark said.

Do the most (all?) of the Mercer County club kids play for Lexington area clubs? LFC, Bluegrass and Commonwealth? Do any of them head to Louisville clubs? Given the unbelievable year the Titans had, can I assume most of their 11 are club kids (if not more)?

From the NKY Tribune:

 

CovCath back in contention for state title in boys’ soccer

 

The seniors on last year’s Covington Catholic boys’ soccer team showed what it takes to win a state championship and the players who replaced them are doing their best to mimic that success.

 

CovCath defeated Mercer County, 3-0, in the first round of the state playoffs on Tuesday at Dixie Heights High School with the same kind of stifling defensive play that was a key element in the previous team’s title run.

 

Stephen Schutt scored CovCath’s first goal in Tuesday’s playoff game against Mercer County. The Colonels have allowed only one goal in their first six playoff games and they’ve posted shutouts in 10 of their last 12 matches.

 

“It’s always nice to get another shutout in the state tournament,” said CovCath coach Jeremy Robertson. “The key for us is playing good defense and it showed last year with the success that we had. So we’re playing some good ‘D’ and we’re still able to score some goals, which is always great.”

 

The Colonels advance to the state quarterfinals to face a Louisville Collegiate team that will definitely put their defense to the test. The Titans (23-1-1) have scored 157 goals in 25 games for a 6.2 average and they’ve never been shut out. On Tuesday, Collegiate blasted Louisville Butler, 5-0, in the first round of the state playoffs.

 

But Robertson doesn’t plan to change his team’s defensive tactics for Saturday’s quarterfinal game. He said the Colonels faced a high-scoring Louisville Trinity team in last year’s state final and came away with a 2-1 victory.

 

“We’re going to do the same thing with Collegiate, we’re going to take it at them,” Robertson said. “We’ll get some feedback on them from other coaches, but we’re still planning to go hard on them.”

 

The Colonels’ aggressive defensive strategy was so effective in Tuesday’s win over Mercer County that junior goalkeeper Thomas Cody didn’t have to make any heroic saves to post the shutout.

 

“Our back four have been strong all year,” Cody said. “They’ve been backing up each other and it’s been working well. We haven’t given up anything stupid yet.”

 

When CovCath had possession of the ball in Tuesday’s game, the players worked together just as well to create scoring opportunities. They got their first goal in the 12th minute when senior Stephen Schutt chipped shot that sailed over the goalkeeper’s head and into the net.

Great to see the press give high soccer some coverage, enjoyed reading these two articles. Exciting game to watch, only wish a bigger crowd could have come out. Maybe the cost of admission played a factor, shame khsaa has to charge $10 a ticket at a venue I would guess they have very very little expensives. Factor in attending the NDA/ WJessamine game the night before and the students and fans need to come up with $20 just to support their friends and classmates, ridiculous IMO.

CCH is on a roll, clearly the better team last night in all aspects of the game. I heard a lot about the Mercer Co midfield, how their team can score a lot of goals, etc. I thought Schutt was the MAN of the match, dominated the midfield in leading his team to a big win.

Lamb, Stava, Deimling a formidable attacking 3 and those five, (six) in the back, Vogt, Dietz, Russo, Seibert, Cody, (Ventre) are defense strong! Not to leave anyone out because every player that stepped on the field last night for CCH did their job, great team win.

Congratulations to Mercer Co on a very good, record setting season.

Congratulations to CCH on advancing to the qt finals and good luck on Saturday, 3 more wins!

Great to see the press give high soccer some coverage, enjoyed reading these two articles. Exciting game to watch, only wish a bigger crowd could have come out. Maybe the cost of admission played a factor, shame khsaa has to charge $10 a ticket at a venue I would guess they have very very little expensives. Factor in attending the NDA/ WJessamine game the night before and the students and fans need to come up with $20 just to support their friends and classmates, ridiculous IMO.

CCH is on a roll, clearly the better team last night in all aspects of the game. I heard a lot about the Mercer Co midfield, how their team can score a lot of goals, etc. I thought Schutt was the MAN of the match, dominated the midfield in leading his team to a big win.

Lamb, Stava, Deimling a formidable attacking 3 and those five, (six) in the back, Vogt, Dietz, Russo, Seibert, Cody, (Ventre) are defense strong! Not to leave anyone out because every player that stepped on the field last night for CCH did their job, great team win.

Congratulations to Mercer Co on a very good, record setting season.

Congratulations to CCH on advancing to the qt finals and good luck on Saturday, 3 more wins!

 

This !

Great to see the press give high soccer some coverage' date=' enjoyed reading these two articles. Exciting game to watch, only wish a bigger crowd could have come out. [b']Maybe the cost of admission played a factor, shame khsaa has to charge $10 a ticket at a venue I would guess they have very very little expensives. [/b]Factor in attending the NDA/ WJessamine game the night before and the students and fans need to come up with $20 just to support their friends and classmates, ridiculous IMO.

CCH is on a roll, clearly the better team last night in all aspects of the game. I heard a lot about the Mercer Co midfield, how their team can score a lot of goals, etc. I thought Schutt was the MAN of the match, dominated the midfield in leading his team to a big win.

Lamb, Stava, Deimling a formidable attacking 3 and those five, (six) in the back, Vogt, Dietz, Russo, Seibert, Cody, (Ventre) are defense strong! Not to leave anyone out because every player that stepped on the field last night for CCH did their job, great team win.

Congratulations to Mercer Co on a very good, record setting season.

Congratulations to CCH on advancing to the qt finals and good luck on Saturday, 3 more wins!

 

Totally ridiculous for a high school game. I understand making some money, but should be no more than $5 to get in. I am sure there are a lot of people who may attend a game, but won't be back after they have to pay $10 to get in.