On a rainy Thursday evening, the McCracken County Lady Mustangs returned home, in search of their eighth straight win as they took on the Madisonville North-Hopkins Lady Maroons.
With a seven-game stretch dating back to September 9th’s win over Paducah Tilghman, the 14-1-2 Lady Mustangs looked to keep up their late season winning ways fresh off the heels of a 3-1 win over Calloway County. In their way was a stiff test from a Lady Maroons side looking to start a streak of their own, coming into action having taken three of their last four.
However, the McCracken County were equal to the task at hand, as a four-goal first half powered them to a 4-1 victory, making it eight wins in a row for the Lady Mustangs.
“I think as the season goes on, we’ve gotten better at making the right adjustments against these teams,” McCracken County head coach Mike Lane said. “We were good about making the right runs off the ball, and when they had pressure on us, we didn’t panic like we might have earlier in the season. I think the girls were just making those right adjustments tonight.”
With heavy rain coming in right at kickoff, the Lady Mustangs and Lady Maroons got just over five minutes in the books before a lightning delay was brought into effect. However, McCracken made that small window count, taking a 1-0 lead through Maddy Ledgerwood just before play was blown dead.
Once the action resumed, the Lady Mustangs remained on their front foot, controlling possession as they kept Madisonville pinned in their own half. After continuing to pour forward, The Lady Mustangs broke through for their second at the 20:20 mark, as Katelyn Heider slipped behind the Lady Maroon back line, calmly slotting past the goalkeeper to double the McCracken advantage midway through the first. Shortly after Heider’s tally, the Lady Mustangs stayed on the attack, with a long-range strike from Ledgerwood extending the lead to three goals, making it a first half brace for the sophomore striker.
Down the stretch in the first, the Lady Maroons would start to gain more possessions. The visitors began to find space, testing the McCracken defense with the occasional counterattack, though any chance on target was shut down by Addison Smith in goal. In the dying seconds of the first, the Lady Mustangs bookended a productive first half by making it 4-0, as Kiera Tynes finished on a chance inside the 18-yard box, sending the game to halftime with the hosts firmly in control.
Throughout the second half, the two teams would exchange opportunities, with both defenses holding firm to keep the margin at four goals for the Lady Mustangs. Finally breaking through the McCracken defense, the Lady Maroons would find their way onto the scoreboard through Hadley Hodges, who struck with 15:27 left on the clock to break up the Lady Mustang clean sheet. Despite a handful of chances to re-extend their lead, the goal from Hodges would be the only addition to the scoreline in the score half, as the Mustangs would collect a comfortable 4-1 victory at full time.
“Defensively, I thought we played well tonight, we might not have scored in the second half, but I thought we were still creating chances,” Lane said. “We were trying to swing the ball to the opposite side of the field as quick as we could, and counter on them whenever they’d come up too high on us.”
With just two games left in the regular season, the Lady Mustangs are in for a pair of marquee First District matchups to end their schedule. Before taking on Marshall County to end the year, the Lady Mustangs will travel to Murray this coming Tuesday evening to face off against the Lady Tigers.
“We’ve just got to stay hungry,” Lane concluded. “Stay hungry, stay humble, and just take things one day at a time.