Maddison Ruggles had a natural hat trick to help Fort Campbell beat Hopkinsville 5-1 Tuesday at Fryar Stadium. The win was Fort Campbell’s first over Hoptown since the 2001 district title game – a span of 25 matches. The closest Fort Campbell had come to beating Hoptown was a tie in 2006.
The Lady Tigers played without their leading scorer Avery O’Hara due to sickness. She has scored 16 of Hoptown’s 30 goals this year. Without O’Hara, the Lady Tiger offense looked out of sorts but did take a 1-0 lead when freshman Peyton Lewis took a pass from Keeli Miles and scored 20 minutes into the first half.
Fort Campbell answered when Maddison Ruggles scored with 5:30 left to conclude the first half scoring.
Ruggles scored the first two goals of the second half, giving her 11 for the year and putting the Lady Falcons up 3-1.
Kaitlyn Cervantes took a crossing pass from Ruggles and poked it in with 14 minutes left for a 4-1 lead. Jordan Hardy ended the scoring with her fifth goal of the year with nine minutes left.
After losing five straight to start the season, Fort Campbell has won three of their last four matches.
Hopkinsville has lost four straight games for the first time in two seasons and drops to 4-6 overall and 1-2 in the district. Fort Campbell (3-6, 2-1) hosts Todd County Thursday, while Hopkinsville travels to Caldwell County Monday.
