The UHA Blazers will be the top seed in this year’s 8th District boys’ soccer tournament. The Blazers clinched the top spot by pushing their way past the Hopkinsville Tigers 4-1 Tuesday evening at Givens Field.
The Blazers will now face the winner of the match between Heritage Christian and Fort Campbell in one district semifinal. The loss puts Hopkinsville in the #2 spot where the Tigers will face third-seeded Christian County in a semifinal match.
The match Tuesday evening was a scoreless battle until midway through the opening half when Lincoln Hauret scored at the 19:30 mark to put the Blazers up 1-0.
The Tigers pulled even with UHA at the 26:00 mark when Alex Rameirez put a direct kick just out of the reach of Blazer goalie Eli Finch. Finch was able to get his hands on the shot but could not pull the ball in before it got across the goal line.
Just a minute and a half later, the Blazers moved back in front when Cadence Gibson found the net to make it 2-1.
With about five minutes left in the half, the Blazers were hit with a red card, forcing them to play the final minutes of the half and the entire second half one man down. The good news for the Blazers was that it did not seem to slow down their pursuit of the district’s top seed.
Lincoln Hauret scored his second goal of the night just 24 seconds into the second half to make it 3-1. Cal Givens then wrapped up the scoring for the night with a shot lofted over the head of Hopkinsville goalie Landon Beaulieu with 23:19 left in the match to make it 4-1.
UHA (11-5-0) goes on the road Thursday night for a big 2nd Region showdown at Henderson County.
Hopkinsville (5-12-0) is set to be on the field Saturday during the Colonel Classic at the Stadium of Champions.
