BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
PAINTSVILLE — The Martin County High School girls soccer team came out of fall break firing on all cylinders. The Lady Cards rolled past Prestonsburg 8-0 Monday to advance to the 15th Region championship game Thursday at Johnson Central.
Martin County was in command from the start. Just two minutes in, Annaleigh Davis launched a shot that narrowly missed the goal to set the tone for a night of offensive pressure.
At the 34-minute mark, Davis fired another attempt that was blocked, but the Cards continued pressing.
Seconds later, goalkeeper Bri Muncy came up with a diving save on the other end to keep Prestonsburg off the board.
Martin County struck first with 30:23 left in the opening half when Maddy Goble danced through defenders inside the box and kicked the ball out to Davis, who buried a shot from the right side to make it 1-0.
The Lady Cards doubled the lead with 12:32 remaining when Hope Caldwell slipped a pass to Jaz Jude. She fired a low shot past the keeper’s right side.
Jude stayed hot, sneaking another goal into the corner from 15 yards out at the 9:32 mark.
With just over four minutes left in the half, the ball escaped a crowded pile near midfield and found Goble. She buried it in the back of the net to make it 4-0.
Davis then charged down the right sideline with 1:20 to play. She sent a cross pass to a wide-open Faith Caldwell. She scored Martin County’s fifth goal of the half.
The Lady Cards came out of the break after telling the bus driver to start warming up the bus.
Just a minute into the second half, Faith Caldwell scored again to extend the lead to six.
Jude followed with another strike at the 37:22 mark, slipping between defenders for her fourth goal of the night.
Less than a minute later, she finished off the match by mercy rule with a heater from center.
Jude led the way with four goals. F. Caldwell added two goals and four assists. Davis recorded one goal and one assist, Goble scored one goal, and H. Caldwell tallied an assist.
Muncy is credited with the shutout at goalie.
Head coach Steven Gauze said the team’s time off over fall break worked in their favor.
“I think the time off actually helped,” he said. “As the practices went on, we kept getting better and better.”
Coach Gauze said his team expects a tough challenge in Thursday night’s 15th Region championship against 57th District rival Johnson Central.
“They’re going to come out with the best shot they can take,” said Gauze. “Mentally against them the first time, I don’t think we were ready in the first half. We came back from the All “A” and we started out slow.”
The coach said that earlier matchup showed the Lady Cards how resilient they can be.
“Once we took their best shot, at halftime, I told them we’re still in this,” Gauze said. “We went back out and played hard. It showed us really what we’re capable of.”
Even with an 8-0 win, Gauze said the focus remains on staying aggressive.
“We even missed a lot of shots tonight, but as long as we continue to attack, we should be good,” he said.
Jude echoed that confidence and said her teammates came into the game hungry after the break.
“My teammates wanted it, I wanted it,” Jude said. “We’ve put in a lot of work. We’ve been training, so we felt comfortable coming back.”
She said the team knows it will be a battle heading into Thursday’s title game.
“I think we’re going to be motivated and ready,” said Jude. “We know what to expect from them now.”
Martin County will face Johnson Central for the 15th Region championship Thursday night.
The Lady Cards previously rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the Lady Eagles 5-3 in their last meeting. Game time for Thursday is set for 6:30 p.m.
