Soccer Pats edged out by SW in region semis
Published 2:06 pm Thursday, October 25, 2018
Photos by Nancy Leedy LINCOLN’S Trey Cummins scores on Southwestern goalkeeper Caleb Seward in the first half of the soccer Patriots’ 2-1 region semifinal loss at West Jessamine Middle School.
NICHOLASVILLE — Lincoln County’s bid for a regional final soccer appearance came up short Thursday night, as Southwestern edged out a 2-1 win to advance to the 12th Region Boys Soccer Tournament championship game.
Southwestern senior Colin Miller tallied both goals to lead the 48th District champion Warriors past the 45th District runner-up soccer Patriots.
“We couldn’t get anything going our way. We were a half a step slow tonight. I think because of last night,” Lincoln coach Lewis Cummins said. “I think the fatigue from playing the late game (2-1 Double overtime/shootout win over West Jessamine) and getting home at midnight last night took its toll on them.”
“They played with a lot of heart. They kept fighting all the way to the last whistle.”
Southwest’s Miller and Lincoln junior Trey Cummins traded goals in the first 15 minutes of the 40-minute first half, with Miller punching the ball in on Lincoln keep Carter Tillett at the 33:10 mark of the game and Cummins dribbling in and going one-on-one with Southwestern goalkeeper Caleb Seward for his game-tying goal with 25: 44 on the clock.
Miller broke the tie at the midway point of the half to put the Warriors up 2-1.
By this time, Lincoln players and fans had questioned the game referees concerning the tripping of soccer Pats by the Warriors in the goal box and no calls – or penalty kicks – being awarded. The Lincoln contingency was the most vocal in the protest conveying that the soccer Pats would be up 3-2 instead of down one had the PKS been awarded. Cummins vehemently asked for calls to protect his players and his protests resulted in a yellow card.
“I hate to fuss too much at the refs but a couple PKs calls, from my view it looked like should have been called – I’ll have to look at it later. If we could have got one of those it might have changed it (game),” Cummins said.
Even without the penalty kicks, Lincoln had several opportunities to score in the second half but would be denied by the Southwestern defense.
Lincoln loses three seniors to graduation, with Jackson Dunn, Carter Story and Austin Wethington all playing their final high school soccer game Thursday night. The soccer Pats finished the 2018 year with a 13-6 record. They were 23-12-4 over the past two years.
“This has been one of the best teams I think we’ve had at Lincoln,” coach Cummins said. “It’s been a great year. I hated to see it end, especially for the seniors. We were wanting one more game. We were wanting to get to the region final. We were just a little short.”
It might have been a somber moment on the soccer field postgame Thursday, but it was anything but quiet in Wednesday’s first round as the soccer Patriots knocked out host West Jessamine 2-1 in a shootout/penalty kicks.
The score was deadlocked at 1-1 at the end of regulation and at the end of two overtime periods.
A.J. Kinnell scored for West Jessamine and Austin Wethington scored for Lincoln. Trey Cummins had a free kick and it bounced off the goalie, John Collin McKibben, and Wethington was there to put in the shot.
It took penalty kicks to decide the game. Each team got five shots on goal, alternating shots between teams. Lincoln showed a 4-3 advantage after West Jessamine missed its fourth shot attempt, meaning all the soccer Pats had to do to advance was hit their next shot – and they did.
“It was very exciting,” said coach Cummins, who lost his voice through all the yelling. “That was one of our better games we’ve played all year.”
Carter Tillett was in goal for Lincoln in both games.
Note: Southwestern (13-4) went on to claim the 12th Region title, defeating Danville (18-2) for the regional title Saturday at West Jessamine Middle School. The Warriors, last year’s regional runner-up, blanked the Admirals 3-0 to earn the chance to represent the 12th Region at state.
Southwestern was to play 11th Region champion Henry Clay Tuesday night in Lexington in the state tournament.
