Tuesday night at MercyHealth Field served as senior night for McCracken County soccer, as they hosted a doubleheader against Graves County. A couple of strong performances from the class of 2026 would be the driving factors behind both games, as the Mustangs and Lady Mustangs completed the sweep with a pair of dominant victories.
Mustangs 9, Eagles 1
In the earlier of the two kick-offs, senior leadership would be on full display for the Mustangs. With five goals from seniors, they’d comfortably collect their fifth straight win by a score 9-1.
“In our last two games, we’ve scored 18 goals. It’d be pretty hard not to like that,” McCracken County head coach Michael Wiersema said. “We did a good job of keeping the ball moving tonight, circulating it around our players, and making the most of our chances.
While the Mustangs dominated possession early, keeping the Eagles pinned into their own half through most of the first half, Graves’ defense did enough to keep the score level at zero for a good chunk of the half. However, the overwhelming pressure would eventually break the deadlock, as Mason Atnip put a header on goal with 17 minutes to play, putting the hosts ahead one. While the Mustangs stayed on the front foot through the remainder of the half, only one more goal would cross the line. Atnip would fire from the edge of the box with 10 minutes remaining, doubling the Mustangs’ lead to 2-0, where it would stay through the half.
In contrast to the start to the first, the Mustangs wasted little time getting on the board in the second. As soon as play resumed, Atnip would complete his hat trick, lobbing the keeper from midfield to make it 3-0 just seven seconds in.
“I had a goal like that a couple of days ago, too, I just looked up and saw their keeper off his line, and decided I had to try it again,” Atnip said, who went on to finish his night with four goals. “It was a great night, I think this is the most goals I’ve ever scored in a game. It feels good to do it on senior night, we’ve got a lot of seniors on the team, and it felt great to get this win as a team.”
Along with Atnip’s fourth, goals from Brady Hayden, Maks Hazel and Eli Riley would extend the lead to seven. While the Eagles would pull one back with just under ten to play, another two late goals for the Mustangs would wrap things up, as the hosts claimed the 9-1 victory.
Next up for the Mustangs, they’ll look to make it six straight, as they host Madisonville-North Hopkins on Saturday.
“[Madisonville]’s a great team. We’ll be missing a couple of our players, but we have been for about our last five games. It’ll be good to get everybody back and clicking soon,” Wiersema concluded, looking ahead. “But, we were able to play 25 kids tonight, and get some guys some rest, so that’s always good. There’s not a lot of games on the schedule where we’re able to do that.”
Lady Mustangs 8, Lady Eagles 0
In the evening’s later game, the Lady Mustangs would find their way back into the win column after a three-game winless skid, with six goals from their seniors, and a clean sheet for Trinity McDonough, powering an 8-0 win.
“I think this was a really good win for our girls, especially for the seniors. We’ve been playing a really tough schedule, so this will be a good boost for the morale,” Lady Mustangs head coach Mike Lane said. “It was a really big night for our seniors. They wanted to have their night as not just a memory, but as a win.”
From the beginning, the Lady Mustangs would hold the upper hand, applying steady pressure to the Lady Eagles’ backline. Despite a number of good looks on goal, though, Graves were able to keep things level for just over ten minutes. The pressure would pay out for McCracken with just over twelve minutes passed, with KK Tynes getting a head to a ball whipped in off a corner kick, giving the Lady Mustangs the 1-0 lead.
Down the stretch in the first, Tynes would stay involved as McCracken gave themselves some more room on the scoreboard. After picking up the second goal herself from the edge of the box, Tynes would assist Makenzie Burgett just seconds later to extend the lead even further. Burgett’s goal would be the last offense of the half, as the Lady Mustangs headed into halftime ahead 3-0.
The Lady Mustangs would waste little time getting on the board in the second, with Burgett completing her brace just over three minutes into the half. After Maddy Ledgerwood struck to make it 5-0, Burgett would add on for the hat trick. Continuing to pin the Lady Eagles into their own half, the Lady Mustangs wouldn’t take much longer than 20 minutes into the half to seal up the game. Tynes would pick up another assist on a feed to Sephie Warfield, before Ava Englert netted the sixth senior goal of the evening, ending the game at 8-0 with 17:13 left to spare.
“It was great to see the ball get spread around well tonight, and plenty of girls have a chance to get on the ball,” Lane said. “Once the girls really understood where the open space on the field would be, they were able to start putting the ball in the back of the net...It was a great win for them.”
Now back in the win column, the Lady Mustangs will look to keep on trending in the right direction, when they return to action this Thursday night in a key district matchup with Paducah Tilghman.
“We’ve just got to keep the momentum going,” Lane concluded. “We’ll get right back to work in practice tomorrow, and keep on improving as we get closer to the postseason.”
Kick-off between the Lady Mustangs and Lady Tornado from Jetton Field is set for 7 p.m.