By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Conner girls soccer coach Mike Hughes took his team to the Bluegrass State Games over the weekend to get an idea of what they’ll need to work on during the final three weeks of preseason practice.
The Cougars have seven starters returning from last year’s team that posted 20 shutouts, reached the 9th Region championship final for the first time and finished with a 22-3-1 record.
There’s a good chance Conner will be ranked among the top teams in the state going into the upcoming 2025 season because of the success they had last fall.
“To replicate a season like that is almost, I won’t say impossible, but that can’t be your goal,” Hughes said. “You want to be back in the finals or win it, which I think we can do, but you’re not trying to replicate that success. You’re trying to build on it with what this team can do.”
Conner had a 13-1 record against 9th Region opponents last season. The only loss came against Highlands, 1-0, in the region championship match.
In addition to seven returning starters, Hughes said he has 13 other players who gained valuable varsity experience. Their collective goal is to win the first 9th Region title in program history that narrowly escaped them last fall.
“We’ve talked about that,” the coach said. “Now we know what it takes. It’s just a matter of can we get our team to jell like we did last year.”
Two of Conner’s returning seniors are cornerbacks Isabelle Swaney and Izelee Kerns, who was named Defensive Player of the Year by Northern Kentucky coaches. Kerns has made a commitment with Western Michigan University.
Last season, they spearheaded a defensive backline that didn’t allow a goal in the Conner’s first 12 victories and gave up 10 in 26 matches for a 0.38 average that ranked third in the final statewide statistics.
“Izelee is a kid who’s going to wherever the ball is. She’s just a tenacious defender, whether it’s in the air or 1 v. 1,” coach Hughes said. “Isabelle kind of offsets her. She gives us a second defender who lets Izelee go do her thing and still gives us a good presence in the middle.”
The team did lose veteran goalkeeper Ally Welch to graduation. Her replacement will be sophomore Cara Fay, who saw action in eight varsity matches.
“Cara is a very athletic goalkeeper,” Hughes said. “You can’t replace someone like Ally with her experience and technical ability, but you can rebuild and be in good shape with someone like Cara.”
The Cougars had a balanced attack last year with five players scoring 20 points or more in goals and assists. Six of them are returning, including senior Reagan Buchert, a University of Tennessee-Martin recruit, and sophomore midfielder Ella Folke, who had a team-high eight assists.
“I feel pretty good about being able to create (scoring) opportunities,” Hughes said. ”Now, whether we finish them, that’s going to be the key.”