TheTimesTribune.com, Corbin, KY
CORBIN —
By Michael Childers For The Times-Tribune
Southwestern came into its contest against South Laurel with something to prove. Last season, the Lady Cardinals beat the Lady Warriors 10-0 in London. With that loss lying on the back of their collective minds, Southwestern was looking for a bit of redemption at The Plains.
Matt Cook’s squad had the game in hand for the game’s first 70 minutes, unfortunately a soccer game lasts 80 minutes. Thanks to last-minute heroics from Jessica Perkins, Todd White’s Lady Cardinal club was able to make a spectacular comeback in the final 10 minutes to down home standing Southwestern by a final of 4-3. The loss handed the Lady Warriors their first setback of the season.
“Last year, we went over there to South Laurel and they humiliated us,” Cook said. “They beat us 10-0.”
Over the course of the second half, South Laurel’s Perkins had trouble getting a shot past goal keeper Kaylee Shepherd, who played an amazing game in the net for the Lady Warriors. Shot after shot was blocked by Shepherd, but with 11minutes left in the contest, the senior forward made a spectacular shot while falling down to knot the game up a 3-3.
After going into defensive mode for the entire second half, in part to the injury to Kayla Janbakhsh, the Lady Warriors shifted back into scoring mode in an attempt to one up the Lady Cardinals. Danay Fothergill, already with a hat trick, took a shot with seven minutes left to play, but the shot sailed over the goal, handing South Laurel a goal kick.
With just under four minutes left, Perkins delivered once again for South Laurel, as she scored her third goal of the contest. The goal put the Lady Cardinals out front 4-3. With that goal, it was the first time the Lady Warriors trailed all season long.
“It’s unfortunate to let the game get away from us at the end,” explained the Lady Warrior coach. “We got that goal at the start of the (second) half, and I really packed it in. (Kayla) Janbakhsh was on the bench, so I really didn’t feel like I had a choice, we just went for broke.”
“We held them for the first 20 minutes of it. It looked like we ran out of gas a little bit.”
That goal by Perkins turned out to be a dagger to the chest for Southwestern, as White’s club won the contest 4-3.
“I think we showed a lot of heart near the end of the game,” expressed the South Laurel head coach. “We did what we had to do to win the game.”
State soccer history was made in the game’s opening minutes, as Fothergill scored a goal in the seventh minute. After a Lady Warrior was fouled in the box, Fothergill took the penalty kick. The senior’s attempt was good, giving Fothergill her 100th career goal.
