By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The team that won Northern Kentucky’s first state championship in boys’ soccer last season is on the threshold of another historic accomplishment.
Covington Catholic defeated North Hardin, 3-0, in a state semifinal match on Thursday to make it back to the title game. If the Colonels win the season finale against Daviess County on Saturday, they’ll become the first CovCath team to win back-to-back state titles in an unclassified sport.
The fact that the Colonels have nine first-year starters in the lineup makes their return to the state final at 7 p.m. Saturday at Lexington Bryan Station High School even more impressive.
“The boys are really thrilled about it,” said CovCath coach Jeremy Robertson. “The team has really come together to prove their own point and create their own road to the final.”
Good defensive play has paved the road they’re on. The Colonels have allowed only one goal in eight post-season playoff victories and posted their fourth consecutive shutout in the semifinal match by limiting North Hardin to two shots on goal.
The only senior on CovCath’s defensive backline is Michael Vogt. Junior goalkeeper Thomas Cody and junior defenders Johnathon Dietz, Patrick Seibert and Dominic Russo are all first-year starters. But they don’t get all the credit for their team’s defensive success.
“Soccer is a team sport,” coach Robertson said. “When you lose the ball in the offensive third (of the field), our first defenders are our forwards. We kind of feed off that immediate ball pressure and the rest of the defense covers for it. So it’s pretty much a team effort on the defensive side.”
CovCath took 16 shots on goal and put three balls in the net against North Hardin. The first goal was scored by senior forward Griffin Lamb off an assist by senior forward Cole Stava with less than seven minutes remaining in the first half.
“They were packing it in and defensive heavy in the first half so we had to make some adjustments,” Robertson said. “We did put one in before the half ended. In a tournament, it’s very important to get that first goal.”
The score remained 1-0 until late in the second half when Stava kicked a loose ball into the net with 6:50 left on the clock. Less than four minutes later, Lamb dribbled between two defenders and put a shot past the goalkeeper.
“In the second half, we had a couple opportunities where we didn’t score, but we got two goals in the last seven minutes,” Robertson said. “We still put the pressure on, even though we were up 1-0, and played until the end.”
The win boosted CovCath’s record to 22-5-2. In the championship match, the Colonels will be facing a 25-1 Daviess County team that’s riding a 19-match winning streak. The Panthers have 19 shutouts this season, but they allowed one goal in each of their last three playoff games, including a 5-1 win over Lexington Dunbar in the state semifinals on Thursday.
“Our defense is playing well and we’re scoring goals,” Robertson said. “We’re feeling pretty good, but we’ve got another heavy opponent that we have to face that’s really good.”