On Thursday night, perhaps the most impactful doubleheader of the First Region soccer season went down at Marshall County’s Colburn Stadium, as the Marshals and Lady Marshals played host to McCracken County.
Mustangs 2, Marshals 1
The later of the two games saw the Mustangs and Marshals face off, with the Mustangs holding the edge in the season series following a 1-0 win earlier in the month. While the two sides were neck-and-neck for 79 minutes, all it took was one kick with six seconds on the clock to make the difference for the Mustangs, as they swept the season series with a 2-1 buzzer-beating victory.
From kick-off, much of the first half was fought along the midfield, with the Marshals and Mustangs scrapping for every second of possession. Eventually, the Marshals would gain the upper hand, creating a handful of scoring opportunities as they pressed into McCracken’s half. The deadlock would be broken by the hosts just past the halfway mark of the first, as a deflected shot from Houston Johnson would find the feet of Maddox Schroader, who buried the second chance opportunity to give Marshall the 1-0 advantage.
However, just as it looked like the Marshals would take the lead into halftime, the Mustangs found their answer. After a rocket of a shot from Johnny Mendoza would ring the post, the follow-up opportunity from Mason Atnip would make things 1-1 with five minutes to play in the half, where the score would remain through halftime.
Through most of the second half, the two sides looked destined to settle things in extra time, with neither the Mustangs nor Marshals able to break the tie despite a few opportunities going the way of Marshall. As the half began to wind down, though, the visitors began to shift the momentum, pressuring the Marshall back line and forcing a number of big-time stops from Carson Lovett in goal for the Marshals. With less than ten seconds to play, however, Mendoza and Atnip would link up again to make the difference for the Mustangs. Stemming from a long throw into the box from Mendoza, a loose ball would find it’s way to the feet of Atnip, who buried his shot with six seconds on the clock, putting McCracken ahead 2-1.
“I saw that ball coming to me, and all I knew was that I had to hit it hard,” said Atnip, recounting the winning goal. “That’s probably the biggest one I’ll score all season. Coming into Marshall’s home, sealing up a last-minute win, that was great.”
With time all but expired, a Hail Mary shot from midfield by the Marshals was collected by Lane Grace in goal for the Mustangs, as they sealed up the key victory, and their place atop the district.
“This is a tough place to play, it’s tight and they like to play more direct than we do, and we kind of fell into their game and paid for it early. But, we survived, we’ve got the top seed in the district, and we’re very happy with that,” said Mustangs head coach Michael Wiersema. “I’m just grateful [for the winning goal]. Thank God for that. I’ve been on the other end of that too many times.”
Lady Marshals 6, Lady Mustangs 3
In the earlier of the two kick-offs, two of the region’s best faced off, with the Lady Marshals looking to complete the season sweep of the Lady Mustangs. In a second half shootout, set pieces would be the key for the Lady Marshals, as they outdueled McCracken across a back-and-forth second half to earn the 6-3 win.
“That was one of the crazier games we’ve been apart of in a while,” said Marshall County head coach Michael Boone, following the win. “We knew it was going to be a fight coming into it, but we didn’t think it was going to be like this. Sometimes these games just get away from you. I don’t think that if we played again next week it’d be 6-3 again.”
Similar to their first meeting, the Lady Mustangs and Lady Marshals were evenly matched from the start, splitting possession early on. While a header off a corner for Lauren Noles would put Marshall ahead early, the Lady Mustangs were right there with an answer towards the halfway mark of the first, with a long range effort for KK Tynes tying things up. While the Lady Marshals would see the majority of possession, and scoring chances, down the stretch, the score would hold at one goal apiece heading into the break.
While the Lady Marshals applied the pressure to end the first, it would be McCracken on the front foot early into the second, looking to break the deadlock. Their chance would come just three minutes in, with a foul in the box giving them an opportunity to take the lead from the penalty spot. However, a save for Savannah Dodd would keep Marshall level for the time being.
The Lady Mustang pressure would continue, though, leading to more quality chances for the visitors. Finally, the breakthrough would come, as a ball turned into the box by Maddy Ledgerwood would be turned in by Maddie Ault, giving the visitors the lead.
Ault’s goal would not be the difference for long, with Addi Wall bringing the Lady Marshals level, heading home a free kick mere seconds later. Set pieces would soon become the theme of the night for Marshall County; after Ledgerwood picked up a goal for herself to briefly put the Lady Mustangs back out ahead, back-to-back goals off of corners for Wall and Noles would fire Marshall right back in front, 4-3.
“I told them at halftime, don’t panic if they score, just stay patient and stay focused,” said Boone. “We have a senior-laden group, they’re very mature, and that really showed when we got down. Even when we went back up a goal, they were focused on seeing things out and continuing to press. We have a great group of senior leaders, and that certainly helped us here.”
Through the remainder of the night, the Lady Marshals would continue to punish McCracken on corner kicks. Wall would complete her hat trick, before Chaney Green potted the Lady Marshals’ fifth corner kick goal of the evening, sealing up the 6-3 victory and the season sweep for the hosts.
“We knew we could play balls well off the corners. Our set piece takers are very good, and if we’re tracking the ball well and attacking, we know it’s going to create some problems for the other team,” said Boone, on the Lady Marshals’ success from set pieces. “We hadn’t always been this efficient, necessarily, but tonight we really needed it, and we were able to pull away thanks to it.”
With the win, the Lady Marshals sit alone atop the first district, needing just one more victory over Paducah Tilghman to finish off district play unbeaten, and see themselves automatically through to the regional tournament.
“This is exactly what we wanted to do in our first year in the district,” Boone concluded. “You obviously want to come in and play well through the regular season, and provided we beat Tilghman again, we’ve got our ticket punched to the regional tournament already. To come in and now have two district wins over them, I’m happy with that.”