After having their 8th District championship match against the Hopkinsville Tigers suspended early in the second half Wednesday night, you have been concerned about the UHA Blazers losing the momentum they had built up in the match. When the lightning arrived Wednesday, the Blazers were up 3-1, and appeared to be rolling along.
While their offense did not find the net anymore Thursday night, the defense was more than up to the task as they held serve and picked up the 3-1 win over the Tigers Thursday night at the Stadium to claim their second straight 8th District championship.
The Blazer attack generated only three shots on goal over the final 35 minutes of the match, while Hopkinsville was able to launch nine shots. However, the UHA defense effectively limited the Tigers to just a couple of good looks, and goalie Will Maxwell closed the door on those.
Maxwell also got some help in front of him from Ethan Alexander, Will Hancock, and Wade Mamoth.
Back on Wednesday evening, the Blazers got on the board early when Ethan Hale came down the left side of the field and found the net at the 3:15 mark to give UHA the 1-0 lead.
Hopkinsville evened the match up at 1-1 when Will Knight buried a direct kick at 15:00.
Then came the momentum-swinging play of the first half. Hopkinsville missed a direct kick, with goalie Will Maxwell quickly getting the ball out of the box to Connor Dill. Dill took the ball the length of the field and scored coming in off the right-hand side to put UHA up 2-1 at 23:15.
The Blazers would extend the lead when Connor Dill found Preston Thomas on a run down the middle of the field and Thomas drilled the shot to move the lead out to 3-1, which was where the score would stand at the break.
Hopkinsville came out of the half and cranked up their attacking pressure, and got a couple of good looks in the first minutes of the second half, but could not find the net. Then came the lightning and the shutdown of the action on the field.
UHA goes to 11-10 with the win. Hoptown drops to 6-14. Both teams will advance on to the 2nd Region tournament next week.
