By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Brian Woeste would like his first season as head coach of the Notre Dame Academy girls soccer team to end with the Pandas winning the program’s fifth state championship and they’ll need four more wins to do it.
Notre Dame earned a berth in the 16-team state tournament bracket with a 3-0 win over Cooper in the 9th Region championship match on Saturday. The Pandas (19-2-3) will play 10th Region champion George Rogers Clark (11-6-3) in the opening round of the state playoffs at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Winchester.
Woeste was an assistant coach on Notre Dame’s state runner-up team in 2017. He returned to the program as head coach this season and his daughter, Kimberly, is one of seven seniors on the roster.
The Pandas enter the state playoffs with a 62-23 goal differential against opponents. Senior goalkeeper Hannah Renaker has allowed 14 goals in 20 matches for a 0.7 average. She and sophomore Joelle Hentz split time guarding the net in the shutout against Cooper.
Notre Dame’s three goals in the region final were scored by Woeste, senior Hannah Knapke and junior Kate Lenihan, who has a team-high total of 12 goals this season.
Knapke was named most valuable player on the 9th Region all-tournament team that included Woeste, Lenihan and junior Megan McGraw. Two years ago, McGraw was a freshman starter on Notre Dame’s state championship team that posted a 28-0-1 record.
The other 9th Region all-tournament selections were Meleah Alexander, Allie Ames and Kathrynne Day of Cooper, Hailey Kidd and Emery Rowland of Dixie Heights, Reese Wilkens and Claire Cavacini of Highlands, Ella Mann of Conner, Makayla Berger of Beechwood, Kayla Unkraut of St. Henry and Kara Bleser of Newport Central Catholic.
Local athletes finish regular season as state leaders in two sports
Holy Cross volleyball player Julia Hunt finished the regular season as the state leader in kills and Ryle cross country runner Tiger Bartlett has recorded the state’s fastest time going into this week’s regional meet.
Hunt has 691 kills in 91 sets for a 6.91 average. The University of Washington recruit also ranks among the state’s top 20 in blocks with 105. During her five-year varsity career, Hunt has more than 2,200 kills and 500 blocks for the Indians.
Bartlett’s best time on a 5,000-meter cross country course this season was 14 minutes, 51.70 seconds at the Great American Cross Country Festival in North Carolina on Oct. 6. No other runner in Kentucky has recorded a faster time, according to rankings posted on the kymilesplit.com website.
On Saturday, Bartlett will compete in the Class 3A, Region 5 boys cross country meet that will include three other local runners that have broken the 16-minute mark this season. They are Paul Van Laningham of Cooper (15:47.90) and Conner teammates Joey Carroll (15:59,10) and Nathan Hopper (15:59.70).
Cooper golfers earn all-state honors in coaches final point standings
Two members of the Cooper girls golf team finished among the top 10 in the girls state point standings to earn first-team all-state honors from the Kentucky Golf Coaches Association.
Cooper junior Regan Ramage placed third and senior Eva Maley tied for 10th in the final point standings posted on the kgca.org website. Their senior teammate, Kendall Brissey, placed 13th to qualify for second-team all-state.
Ramage was medalist in the Region 7 tournament, placed second in a state qualifier and tied for fourth in the state tournament. This is the second consecutive year that she has been first-team all-state.
Maley finished among the points leaders after placing fourth in the region, tying for medalist in a state qualifier and placing 12th in the state tournament. She was recruited by Northern Kentucky University and Brissey is headed for Indiana Wesleyan University.