Covington Catholic 3 North Hardin 0

[colonel-fan]

From the Lexington Herald-Leader:

 

Boys’ state soccer semifinals: Covington Catholic gets back to title game

 

BY JOSH MOORE

 

Forty-one seasons of boys’ soccer were played before Northern Kentucky earned a championship in the sport. Come Saturday, it could own two in a row.

 

Covington Catholic shook off a slow start to roll past North Hardin, 3-0, in the KHSAA Boys’ State Soccer Tournament semifinals Thursday night at Bryan Station.

 

The Colonels set a new school record for shutouts with their 17th this season, eclipsing the previous mark of 16 set during their state-championship run last year. That ties them for fourth-most in state history.

 

That team scored a school-record 109 goals. This edition, which is missing 18 seniors from a year ago, has scored 106 goals this season — as many as the 2015 team did after its state semifinal win over Fern Creek.

 

“It’s exciting to get back to the state finals again,” Covington Catholic Coach Jeremy Robertson said. “Would anybody would have said CovCath would be in the state finals again? No, no, nobody woulda gave a thought about that.

 

“We’re excited. This team still has a whole lot to prove. They’re looking forward to it.”

 

Covington Catholic got off 27 shots to just five for North Hardin, but couldn’t turn any into points until a Griffin Lamb goal off a Cole Stava assist in the 34th minute.

 

“They were a bit more defensive-minded on us,” Robertson aid, “which is okay but our guys have to recognize that and make adjustments during the game and not wait until halftime to make them or 20 minutes into the game.”

[colonel-fan]

From the Louisville Courier-Journal:

 

Covington Catholic, Daviess Co. win to set up boys soccer final

 

By Daniel Karell November 3, 2016

 

Covington Catholic High School’s boys soccer team is 80 minutes away from defending its state title.

 

The Colonels (22-5) made it back to the state final for the second consecutive season on Thursday evening with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over North Hardin in the KHSAA Boys State Soccer tournament semifinal at Bryan Station High School, setting up what should be a thrilling match against Daviess Co. on Saturday at 7 p.m.

 

Colonels star forward Griffin Lamb scored a pair of goals in the victory over North Hardin (19-1-1), taking him to 34-goals scored on the season along with 16 assists. Cole Stava scored the other goal for Covington Catholic.

[Oldtimebaseball84]

"with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over North Hardin "

 

Maybe I show my ignorance, but what is a Comprehensive victory?

[colonel-fan]

com·pre·hen·sive

/kämprəˈhensiv/

 

adjective

 

1. complete; including all or nearly all elements or aspects of something.

"a comprehensive list of sources"

[groinpull]

Another item of interest is that for the third year in a row, the boys championship will be won by a non-Louisville/Lexington team. The balance of power is definitely spreading out in Kentucky.

[that's what she said]

Agree that another clean sheet will be tough to obtain on Saturday against Daviess but they are on a great roll defensively. Also, consider that of the five defensive starters this year for CCH (goalkeeper and four defenders), none were starters last season for the state champion team. The Colonels currently start four juniors and a senior in the back with the only senior being Mike Vogt.

 

Not only were none of these 5 starters, Vogt played outside mid last season and the other four, all current juniors, Cody, Dietz, Russo, and Seibert were busy going undefeated and winning the NKY Boys JV Regional Tournament...none of the current CCH juniors or sophomores were even on the varsity squad last season. Clearly not a knock on them, (proven by this year's success) all or most of them would have started for any other varsity team last year. Simple case of a numbers game, 18 seniors, 9-10 of them starters last season. Very, very few programs with this kind of depth, talent, and great coaching to bring it all together.

Congratulations on another total team win CCH. As Daniel Karell wrote,

"comprehensive 3-0 victory".

 

Congratulations to North Hardin on a great season, hold your heads high, no doubt your school and families are very proud, all class last night boys!

 

The road to a repeat just got a lot shorter CCH, one more win, defense strong!

Good luck on Saturday.

[Theoldguy]

By Marc Hardin, Nky.com

 

Not long after Covington Catholic won last year's first-ever high school state championship by a Northern Kentucky boys' soccer team, Colonels coach Jeremy Robertson said he hoped it wouldn't take so long to get another one for the school and the area.

With Thursday's 3-0 state tournament semifinal win over North Hardin, the Colonels put themselves in position to win a second consecutive state title in less than a calendar year.

"It's exciting. But we'll have to play much better (in the final)," Robertson said. "I can tell you we're looking forward to it."

Striker Griffin Lamb scored twice and fellow senior Cole Stava added a goal for the defending champion Colonels at Bryan Station, propelling them into Saturday's 7 p.m. state championship game against Daviess County. CovCath beat Henry Clay in last year's final on Nov. 7.

Lamb scored on a one-touch shot to the right side off an assist from Stava in the 34th minute for his 33rd goal of the season. It was Stava's 10th assist, third-best on the team.

Lamb just missed on a shot over the crossbar in the first 10 minutes during a slow offensive start for both sides. CovCath became more aggressive in the 4-4-2 attack and began working its way into the box with greater frequency with the aid of precision diagonal passing.

A few minutes after Lamb's shot over the net, a through-ball by the Colonels bounced off several players before getting turned aside by the North Hardin defense. CovCath outshot the Trojans, 13-3 in the first half despite trailing 3-0 on corner kicks. CovCath held North Hardin to seven shots total in the contest.

It was nearly 2-0 midway through the first half on Stava's 25-yard shot that rebounded to Lamb who fired from point-blank range only to be thwarted by North Hardin goalkeeper Tyler Phoutharansy. Another CovCath shot five minutes later glanced off the right pole into the side netting. The Colonels had a goal waved off by an offside call in the 69th minute.

Stava eventually scored in the 74th minute. Three minutes later, Lamb scored for the 34th time in 29 games, extending his school single-season record.

North Hardin had a handful of 18-yard attempts after the break, but the CovCath defense prevailed behind the back-row play of John Dietz, Dominic Russo, Patrick Seibert, Michael Vogt and keeper Thomas Cody, who has a hand in 17 shutouts this season, 14 in the last 16 games.

"It's awesome getting another shutout against a tough team," Vogt said. "

The Ninth Region champion Colonels won their ninth match in a row and improved to 22-5-2. With just three returning starters following the graduation of 18 senior players, they've lost once since Sept. 17, winning 14 of 15 along the way.

"This team and these eight seniors want to make their own path," Robertson said. "They want to prove a point."

 

 

North Hardin from the Fifth Region finished 19-9-1. The Trojans were in the state tournament for the second year in a row and for the third time in five seasons, making their furthest advancement this year.

Third Region champ Daviess County (26-1) defeated Paul Laurence Dunbar 5-1 in Thursday's early semifinal. Daviess County, No. 1 in the Kentucky Maher Rankings, has won 19 matches in a row. The Panthers have allowed 10 goals on the season while scoring 138.

The Colonels, ranked No. 3 statewide, have outscored the opposition, 106-20. CovCath and Daviess County did not meet during the regular season. They have one common opponent, North Hardin, ranked 14th in Kentucky. Daviess County beat North Hardin, 3-2 in the regular-season opener.

[kinglouie]

Congrats to the Colonels! One more to go....

[sports fan]

The NH keeper kept them in it early and CC did a great job defending #3 for NH all night. In the end CC just too much for NH. Final match with Daviess should be a good one.