LeBlond Soccer advances in Class 2 District 8 Tournament
By Calvin Silvers
It was the second day of the Class 2 District 8 girls soccer quarterfinals at Cameron High School, as the first contest was between the seventh seeded and host Cameron Dragons and the two seeded Bishop LeBlond Golden Eagles.
The action was abundant early, as this contest only needed three minutes before the scoreboard was lit up with the night’s first points. The ball was passed to Dragons’ Bailey Robinson, bouncing off her foot, leading her further down the field for a one-on-one opportunity against Golden Eagles’ goalkeeper Maddie Sego.
Robinson quickly centered the shot, but kicked left and faked out Sego for the 1-0 lead. It didn’t take long for LeBlond to respond, in fact just 16 minutes. Allie Welter passed ahead to Kinsley Hazelwood, who then passed to a running Kendall Cathcart.
Cathcart kept pace with the ball, using the side of her foot near the goal to sneak it under the arm of Cameron’s goalkeeper, which led to a 1-1 tie. With 14 minutes remaining in the first, Welter got past the Dragons’ defense, but passed to Cathcart on the left side who used a running start to kick the ball across the field, and Hazelwood used her head to put the ball in the back of the net.
That goal pushed the score to 2-1, and that score stood when the horn signaled halftime. The second half wasn’t as entertaining in relation to scoring, as 17 minutes passed until the ball hit the back of the net for the first goal of the second half.
Off a corner kick, Cameron’s Alexis Robinson didn’t need to set anyone up, as her kick traveled into the net and tied the game at 2-2 with under 23 minutes remaining for a spot in the district semifinals.
With 13 minutes remaining in the contest, the rain began to come down but it didn’t throw off the play of LeBlond. The ball ricocheted off the goalkeeper’s foot and landed at the feet of Cathcart, who placed it far left side for the deciding goal.
LeBlond advances to the Class 2 District 8 semifinal at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday against Benton at Cameron High School.
