DAY TWO OFFENSE: West Jessamine and Somerset ride high-powered offenses to advance

Photo by Jacob Pratt: Somerset senior Tori Robertson (10) takes a shot at the goal while being closely defended during the Jumpers' 6-4 win over Wayne County in the first round of the 12th Region Tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024.

SOMERSET - Day two of the 12th Region Tournament was even more cold than the first day, at least in the air. By the end of the night, the offenses of West Jessamine and Somerset were red hot to help cut through the bitter cold, with both advancing to Thursday's semifinal round. Somerset head coach Ben Robertson believes his team has all the chance in the world to down the Colts on Thursday as well.

"West is a fantastic team, our game plan is going to be to get up early by riding our offense and hopefully stay ahead," he stated.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: West Jessamine junior Kyndal Shannon (3) celebrates with freshman Addison Thompson (19) after a goal during the Colts' 9-0 victory over Lincoln County on Tuesday evening.

In game one of the evening, the West Jessamine Colts took on the Lincoln County Lady Patriots and despite the Patriots having a better record, they were decisively underdogs in this one. The Colts didn't waste any time on the offensive end of things either, as sophomore Preslie Houp kicked off their scoring in the third minute on a quick breakaway shot that sailed past Lincoln County sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Bowman for a 1-0 lead. A shot from Jenna Pearman narrowly missed snugging into the top part of the net in the fourth minute, before the junior connected two minutes later after faking out the goalkeeper for a wide open net and a 2-0 lead.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: West Jessamine junior Joanna Tucker (center) begins to fall while on the attack after some strong defense by Lincoln County junior Annabelle Stephens (right) during the Colts' victory over the Patriots on Tuesday at Clara Morrow Field.

Goal number three of the evening was scored in the eight minute, as Kyndal Shannon connected with her target. Shannon added her second goal in as many minutes with a header to make it 4-0 and the rout was on by this point less than 10 minutes into the ball game. Shots from Madison Bruner and Joanna Tucker were missed over the next few minutes, before Tucker's shot in the 13th minute was strong enough to make it past the deflection by the goalkeeper for a 5-0 edge, just three goals away from putting this one into mercy rule territory.

Bowman had several saves in the minutes that followed, but it looked like the Colts could score goal number six at any time. That came true in the 22nd minute with Sophia Rom-Touch getting a 'touch' on the ball on the ball with a quick breakaway that gave West a 6-0 lead. Lincoln had their best look at the goal in the 26th minute, as a close attempt by Layken High was stopped by Sophie Bolton in net for the Colts. Just two minutes later, Kami McKibben had her first goal of the contest after some fancy dribbling in the box for a 7-0 advantage.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: West Jessamine freshman Addison Thompson (19) and Lincoln County senior Katlin Rutherford (1) chase after a loose ball during the game between the Colts and the Lady Patriots on Tuesday.

Within the same minute, the Colts got the goal that would put an end to this contest via the mercy rule, as Tucker had goal number two after her shot bounced off the diving goalkeeper. Tucker added one more goal in the 35th minute for her hat trick in the game, with the Colts able to control the ball for the remaining five minutes to give West Jessamine the 9-0 win at the half via the mercy rule.

West Jessamine, with the victory, improves to 5-8-3 and will play in Thursday evening's semifinals.

Lincoln County finishes the season with a record of 9-12-1. Best of luck to seniors Ella Franklin, Kylie Jenkins, Gatlynn Lewis, Hallie Mullins and Katlin Rutherford on all of their future endeavors.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: Somerset sophomore Storey Justice (center) gets up after being defended by Wayne County freshman Raquel Balmori (left) during the Jumpers' victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday.

Game two of the evening featured the hosting Somerset Lady Jumpers and the Wayne County Lady Cardinals and this too was expected to be a blowout. Somerset played the Cards earlier in the season at Clara Morrow and ran away with a shutout 7-0 victory, however this is the postseason we are talking about, and as sports fans know, anything is possible in postseason play.

Tori Robertson, the state's leading goal scorer, had the first look at the net in the third minute on a free kick, although her kick sailed wide of the goal. Wayne's leading goal scorer, Allison Perez, had a shot in the sixth minute that was over the net before Robertson got the Jumpers on the board two minutes later after taking the ball all the way from midfield on a breakaway. Robertson and Isabella McKenzie had several tries on the net, but Cardinal goalkeeper Evelyn Pop stopped them all.

A shot from Joyce Domingues in the 18th minute was wide. Robertson earned her second goal of the night with a shot into the right side of the net just a minute later, putting the Jumpers up 2-0. It didn't take her long to get her hat trick either, as in the 21st minute she had her free kick from the right side of the box sail into the goal for a 3-0 lead. Another free kick from the senior bounced off the top crossbar in the 26th minute. Somerset ended up taking a 4-0 lead into the half and felt pretty comfortable about their chances though, as Bella Gregory scored in the 28th minute off a rebound.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: Wayne County junior Allison Perez (4) goes on the attack past the defense of Somerset senior Ella Latavong (right) during the Cardinals' contest against the Jumpers on Tuesday night.

The Lady Cards finally got on the board quickly to start things out in the second half, as Perez had a quick breakaway attempt that led to her shot making it past Aijah Carrender in net to trim the Somerset lead to three goals. Perez had goal number two of the evening in the 51st minute on a free kick, with Somerset's lead now trimmed to just 4-2 and things getting interesting really fast at Clara Morrow Field.

McKenzie scored her first goal of the evening just a minute later, as she rebounded a free kick and rocketed a shot into the left side of the goal to increase her team's lead to 5-2. After several shots from Robertson narrowly missed their target, she earned a penalty kick in the 57th minute, with her try being good for her fourth goal of the evening to further increase their lead to now 6-2.

The scoring wasn't done in this one however, as Perez earned her hat trick for the night in the 76th minute into the right side of the net to once again put the Somerset lead at three. She was also able to score once more in the final minute of the contest to match Robertson's game-high four goals, this also kept her true to her jersey number, as she dons the number four jersey for Wayne County. The Jumpers managed to hang on to defeat the Cardinals 6-4 after a disjointed second half performance on defense, with coach Robertson feeling like his team pulled their foot off the pedal over the final 40 minutes.

Photo by Jacob Pratt: Somerset senior Isabella McKenzie reacts after missing a shot during the game between the Lady Jumpers and the Wayne County Lady Cardinals on Tuesday.

"Props to Perez, she is an absolutely fantastic player. First half we executed everything well, second half we just took our foot off the pedal. It was purely concentration issues. I told my team we have West Jessamine in front of us now and we have a great opportunity to win, but we are going to have to focus for a full 80 minutes," he explained.

Somerset improves to 15-6-1 and will take on the West Jessamine Colts in the semifinals on Thursday evening.

Wayne County finishes their season with a record of 10-10-1. Best of luck to their lone senior Dalansea Aldana on all of her future endeavors.

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