By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Highlands and Notre Dame are the only girls soccer programs that have won 9th Region championships over the last 14 years and the two dominant powerhouses are scheduled to meet in a regular season match at 9 a.m. Saturday at Notre Dame.
After eight-team region brackets were introduced in 2012, Notre Dame won the first six 9th Region titles. Over the last eight years, however, Highlands won six titles and Notre Dame won the other two.
The two teams have faced off in the 9th Region final seven times. Highlands took a 4-3 lead in those title matches last year with a 1-0 win over Notre Dame and the Bluebirds went on to claim a state runner-up trophy.
Both teams had matches suspended Wednesday due to lightning. Notre Dame was visiting defending 10th Region champion Brossart and Highlands was at home against Simon Kenton, last year’s 8th Region runner-up.
Notre Dame will enter Saturday morning’s showdown ranked No. 2 in the latest state coaches poll with an 8-2-0 record. The losses were to top-ranked Central Hardin, 1-0, and Carmel of Indiana, 1-0.
The Pandas outscored their first 11 opponents, 25-5, and five players have netted six or more points on goals and assists.
Highlands is off to a 3-4-1 start and dropped to No. 16 in the state poll. The Bluebirds have a 1-4 record in matches played against other state-ranked teams with the win coming against No. 9 Brossart in the season opener. Sophomore forward Ally Lickert has scored five of the 11 goals for Highlands. Their opponents have scored 12 goals.
CovCath 3-point shooter makes college commitment
Covington Catholic basketball player Braeden Myrick, one of the top 3-point shooters in the state last season, has made a commitment with Cal State Fullerton before his senior season gets underway.
Myrick shot 45.7 percent (106 of 232) from behind the arc and averaged 3.1 threes per game for the CovCath Colonels, who won the 9th Region championship and finished with a 31-3 record last season.
The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 17 points per game, shooting 54.2 percent (205 of 378) from the field overall and 87.3 percent (62 of 71) at the free throw line.
Myrick played two varsity seasons at Mason County before transferring to CovCath. He’ll enter his final high school season with a career total of 1,413 points.
Cal State Fullerton is an NCAA Division I program that competes in the Big West Conference. The Titans finished 18-16 last season after posting 6-26 and 14-18 records the two previous years.
Ryle graduate continues All-American soccer career
Ryle graduate Summer Denigan has scored in five consecutive matches for the University of North Carolina women’s soccer team that’s ranked No. 7 in NCAA Division I.
Denigan, who played strictly club soccer while in high school, leads the 5-1 Tar Heels in scoring with 15 points (six goals, three assists) going into Thursday’s home match against California.
This is Denigan’s first season at North Carolina. She’s a graduate student who was named first-team All-American by the United Soccer Coaches organization last fall after her senior season at the University of Georgia.
She was Georgia’s leading scorer with 23 points (11 goals, 1 assist) and finished 10th on the Southeastern Conference scoring list.