The Lady Blue Tornado came out hot with a pair of early goals in their meeting with McCracken on Tuesday night, but the Lady Mustangs responded with six straight goals to finish the match and take home the district win. Maddy Ledgerwood continued her monumental production for the Lady Mustangs with a hat trick, with Madeleine Ault behind her with a pair, on their way to the 6-2 victory.
“It was all adjusting to what they were doing in the first half,” McCracken head coach Mike Lane said about the game. “It was like when we played Mayfield, they played a high-line offside trap, and (Tilghman) was playing a low block. There were a lot of players in the box, and I was trying to figure out a way to navigate that.”
The Lady Blue Tornado did an excellent job in the opening stages of the match. Their defense kept McCracken at bay, while the offense put two goals on the board, with Ali Warmath opening the scoring before Lanie Beyer followed with a laser from 20 yards out to make it 2-0.
Despite getting down a pair early, the Lady Mustangs knew exactly what they were capable of and what they had to do to stay composed in the moment.
McCracken’s leading scorer Maddy Ledgerwood took over the final five minutes of the half, drilling one past the goalie for the team’s first goal. Two minutes later, she executed on a penalty kick to knot it at two heading into halftime.
“We just wanted to keep playing downhill, keep our momentum on our side of the ball instead of letting them get it back,” Lane said. “And I think that’s exactly what we did.”
It was all Lady Mustangs from that point as Ault got in on the scoring quickly after the break, adding two goals to her season total. Ledgerwood also added another one to complete the hat trick. And with Tilghman unable to execute, the final ended at 6-2, improving McCracken’s record to 4-5-1 through the first 10 games of the season.
McCracken has just one day off before yet another intense matchup against district rival Marshall County on Thursday. Their first meeting less than two weeks ago resulted in a 2-1 Marshall County win in penalty kicks. Now the stakes are even higher for the squads, as the winner most likely will retain sole possession of first place in the district.
“It’s a big match,” Coach Lane said. “Last time we went to double overtime and a shootout, and I don’t expect anything different as far as us both going after the ball. We need to get that result, and I’m gonna make sure the girls are locked in for Thursday. They know the ramifications of what this means. Whoever wins is probably going to the number one seed in the district tournament.”
Paducah Tilghman will head to Christian County on Saturday for a pair of games in the Lady Tiger Showcase. At 1 p.m., they will face Stewart County before wrapping up the day at 5 p.m. against Barren County.