For this year’s Lady Marshal seniors, their soccer career has come full circle. As freshmen, they won the Region 1 title followed by two years of not making it past the district tournament and now they are Region 1 Champions once again.
Murray had other plans in this scenario, taking the reins first on a header into the net by Parker Greer 14 minutes in then going up 2-0 near the 28th minute on a goal by Lydia Grogan with the momentum clearly in their favor.
Four minutes later, Carmen Gunn gave the Lady Marshals the boost they needed, scoring their first goal of the game and it was 2-1 Murray at halftime.
Coach Micheal Boone’s message to his players at halftime was to quickly tie the game up, but in the first five minutes of the second half they went back down by two when Grogan scored her second goal of the game.
Bailey Wood found the net, scoring a goal 20 minutes into the half to cut the Murray lead back to one at 3-2 then Wood struck again with six minutes to go to tie the game 3-3 with overtime looking like a real possibility.
A penalty on Murray in the box set up a penalty kick by Camryn Crass that found the back of the net for the go-ahead goal with just over two minutes remaining.
Scoring three straight goals to finish out the game, the final whistle blew on a thrilling come from behind victory and regional championship for the Lady Marshals.
“Fortunately we starting pressuring a little more, we started playing the ball at our feet a little more, which was the message at halftime and just kept pressing”, Boone said of his teams second half heroics that earned them the regional title. “I love teams with grit and to be down two goals twice and to fight back to tie it up and to keep pushing to get the go-ahead goal…I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
Marshall County had 10 shots in the game, eight on goal while Murray had 13 shots and eight on goal. Carlen Whirley had five saves for the Lady Marshals, Kennedy Keller with four saves for Murray.
The Lady Marshals will begin play in the Sweet 16 on Tuesday, taking on Daviess County, the Region 3 winner over Owensboro Catholic. The game will be played in Owensboro at 7:00.
Seven Lady Marshals made the All Region Teams – Camryn Crass (First Team), Carlen Whirley (First Team), Bailey Wood (First Team), Kylee Crass (First Team), Sophia Bayer (Second Team), Carmen Gunn (Second Team) and Loralei Samson (Second Team). Tournament Most Valuable Player went to Bailey Wood and the 2017 Player of the Year was awarded to Murray’s Lydia Grogan.
