Louisville Ties Lake in Opener 2-2 – Girls Soccer
Louisville 2, Lake 2
The Louisville Leopards Girls Soccer team knotted the visiting Lake Blue Streaks 2-2 Wednesday Evening at Louisville Leopards Stadium.
After surrendering an initial goal to the Blue Streaks, the Leopards struck back with a pair of goals in the final 14:24 of the first half. Senior Abigayle Baughman sent a free kick into the box that popped airborne off the knee of Lake’s Maddie Mitchell. When the ball dropped back down Mitchell collided head-to-head with Louisville Forward Megan Chatelain. With the goalie charging in, the momentum of the collision allowed the ball to roll into the back of the net to tie the game. Chatelain was credited with the well-deserved goal.
The Lady Leopards struck again a little over eight minutes later. The play again started with Baughman, who stole the ball away from the Blue Streaks on the other end. She then pushed it ahead to Kayla Gibson at midfield. Gibson ran a give-and-go with Hannah Baughman and charged hard down the left side the field. Her speed beat the defenders and created an opening in the box. She centered aa pass to Sweeper Jenny Hamsher who laced it into the back of the net to give Louisville a stunning 2-1 lead with 6:18 remaining before halftime.
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Lake continued to attack in the second half and broke free for the game-tying score. From outside the box, Sarah White blasted a shot into the right side of the net with 24:43 left in the game. The Blue Streaks out-shot the Leopards 26-9 for the game, which included an earlier score by Anna Stevens.
Nevertheless, the Louisville defense held Lake off the scoreboard over the final quarter of match. Goalie Kenzie Brown finished with 9 saves and Abigayle Baughman briefly took over in goal and recorded a save.
This is the fourth time that the Leopards and Blue Streaks have tied in the last 5 seasons and their second consecutive stalemate (0-0 tie at Lake in 2016). With the result, Louisville is now 1-10-4 against Lake all-time which includes a 0-4-3 mark at home.
This is the second time the Lady Leopards have tied their opponent on opening night. The other draw came against North Canton Hoover, another Federal League opponent, who they tied 1-1 on August 20, 2014. The Leopards will battled the Vikings Monday night at Hoover. Louisville is now 10-3-2 in season openers all-time.
UP NEXT: The Lady Leopards will next travel to North Canton Hoover to take on the Vikings on Monday, August 28. JV will start at 5:00 PM and Varsity will follow around 7:00 PM.
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Cover Photo Taken By Jim & Laura Photography
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