Ashland Reaches Elite Eight at State
James Collier
Ashland Beacon
Ashland stood toe-to-toe with Lexington Layfette in the first 20 minutes of the Boys Soccer State Quarterfinals match at Frank Sloan-E.B. Lowman Field Saturday night.
Both teams had fired shots on goal but neither had been able to connect. Layfette’s Nadeer Duek changed that in the 20th minute of action to put the visiting Generals in front 1-0. Layfette would add four more goals for a 5-0 win over Ashland.
Layfette found the net in the 26th minute and took a 3-0 edge to the half on a free kick from long distance. The Generals punched in two more in the second half with the final goal coming in the 70th minute.
Ashland opened the season losing five of their first seven but finished strong winning 12 of the last 15 including a tie and closed its season with a 16th Region Championship and a record of 14-7-1.
ASHLAND 4 LAWRENCE COUNTY 0
Fresh off a 16th Region Championship win over Russell, Ashland turned its attention to another familiar opponent in Lawrence County Tuesday night in the opening round of the Boys Soccer State Tournament.
After defeating the Bulldogs 2-1 on Senior Night, the Tomcats used what they learned in the elimination game for a 4-0 shutout.
Ashland got the scoring going early with a Nick Parker goal in the seventh minute off a Casey Steele corner kick. Luke Stahler added to the scoring with a goal off a crosser from Gavin Maynard and a 2-0 lead in the 31stminute.
Lawrence County tried to counter off a pair of darts toward backup goalie Brian Church who was forced into action after Sawyer Frazier could not participate for two games after receiving a red card in the final eight seconds of the regional championship. Church, however, thwarted both shots away to maintain a 2-0 lead for the Tomcats.
Ashland netted two goals in the second half. Troy Barnett connected on a header in the 46th minute after Landon Griffith’s crosser. Maynard slammed the door shut in the 74th minute of the contest.