Photo Courtesy of Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics
Like virtually everything else, the 2020 college soccer season was either disrupted or outright canceled for teams around the nation. Three former Trigg County Wildcats were among those impacted, with two putting the finishing touches on their college careers and one more just starting out.
After capping his high school career in 2016 with an All-State Honorable Mention selection and finishing 5th in goals and 3rd in assists in program history, Troy Alexander continued his career in Owensboro at Kentucky Wesleyan University. Over his first three seasons with the Panthers, he appeared in nearly 50 matches, with just shy of 20 starts, and was named to the Great Midwest Conference All-Academic Team after his junior campaign.
Alexander’s senior season was put on hold, with the Panthers returning to the field this spring with a 9-game schedule. Coming off a 4-12-1 season in 2019, they open March 13 vs. Trevecca Nazarene.
Kyle Bleidt also made his way to Owensboro following a 32-goal senior season with the Wildcats in 2016, earning All-Region recognition. In three and a half seasons with Brescia University, Bleidt, a team captain, has started 50 games while scoring 4 goals and adding 7 assists from his spot on the left side of the Bearcat defense.
Brescia played an abbreviated season in the fall, finishing 7-6-1, 3-3-1 in River States Conference play, and return to the field to start a 4-game slate on February 18 at Georgetown College. The Bearcats are looking to build on a quarterfinal win over Asbury in the 2019 conference tournament that ended with a 1-0 loss to West Virginia Institute of Technology in the semifinals.
Another recent Trigg County graduate is just starting out on his college journey at Asbury University. Elijah Gaines scored 34 goals for the Wildcats as a junior but had his senior season wiped out with a knee injury in the first game of the year. Gaines, an All-Region selection as a junior, did not appear in a game for Asbury as they finished 6-1-1 in the fall, including 5 conference wins. The Eagles return to the pitch on March 11 vs. Midway, the first of four games scheduled in the spring leading up to the conference tournament.
