BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Martin County won the Kentucky Farm Bureau Cup by defeating the Belfry Pirates 3-0 Thursday evening in Inez.
The Cardinal defense held strong and kept Belfry from getting shots at the goal. Marlie Fletcher was in between the bars and saved all three kicks that the Pirates saw daylight on.
Sophie McCoy completed a hat trick for the evening by scoring three goals. Her second goal came with 4 minutes left in the first half. She broke through two defenders after a pass from team captain Lena Hale and put the ball in the right corner past the goalkeeper.
With time winding down in the first, Belfry brought the ball down the field in a hurry and received a penalty kick after being knocked to the ground. Fletcher was waiting in the net and stopped the score.
McCoy’s third goal came in the second half. Caitlyn Horn passed the ball and McCoy made her way within feet of the goal before zipping it in to complete her hat trick.
Brian Davis of KY Farm Bureau was on hand to present the glass soccer cup to the winning team. Davis also assisted during halftime when members of the youth soccer team were allowed to play on the field.
Coach Steven Gauze huddled his team up after the trophy presentation.
“We made some mistakes, but we’re getting better,” Gauze said. “In the second half, we didn’t stop fighting for the ball and we played smarter.”
McCoy thought her team passed the ball well.
“We did a good job tonight confusing them with wall passes,” McCoy said.
Hale was impressed with the defenders.
“We kept talking and our back four were picking it up back there. We have a new line, and they’re stepping it up,” Hale said.
“We struggled in the first part of the first half, but we picked up on what they were doing and working around us with. So we started picking it off,” added Hale. “Belfry is a good, physical team. We really had to use our passing skills to get around their defense and we worked the ball around.”
Coach Gauze thought his players stepped up with Laura Hale out with an injury.
“Sophie can score goals, and she brought tenacity to the team tonight,” said Gauze. “Marlie is having her best season so far. We’ve worked a lot on her coming out and being vocal. We talked about it at halftime and she started the second half communicating with her back four.”
On his team’s victory, the coach said, “They deserve it. They work really hard and we’ve played good teams. It’s just good to get a win.”
McCoy had three goals for the Cards. Horn had two assists and Lena Hale had one.
The girls were scheduled to host Morgan County Monday and will travel to Prestonsburg tonight for a 6 p.m. kickoff.