CANNONSBURG —
Ashland girls soccer coach E.B. Lowman could only watch as his team struggled in the first half. At the end of the game, he was smiling.
Ashland outshot Boyd County 9-3 in the second half, racing to a late comeback to defeat Boyd County 2-1 on Saturday at Boyd County Soccer Complex.
After losing to Russell 5-1 earlier in the week, Lowman said it seems like the bad game against the Lady Devils followed Ashland to Saturday’s game.
“We just went into a slump, and it started with the Russell game,” Lowman said. “We just didn’t play and it carried on over here. We’re beat up, banged up, one in a walking boot, one on crutches. We’re so thin because of injuries it’s hard to work in practice right now to fix the things we need to fix.”
Down 1-0 heading into the second half, Ashland seemed to come out more aggressive and looking for more opportunities against Boyd County goalkeeper Emily Stewart.
Stewart had 11 saves on 13 Ashland shots, and whenever Ashland seemed to start a break towards the goal, Stewart was there to stop it.
“She’s like a vacuum cleaner,” Lowman said of Stewart. “Emily Stewart is an excellent goalkeeper, I love to watch her play. She’s probably the best around here.”
The LadyCats’ aggressive nature finally got to her when Charity Collins took a shot from outside of the box that found the corner of the net just over Stewart’s hands.
Boyd County coach Nic Skaggs said it wasn’t Stewart’s fault for the goal, it was just a beautiful shot by Collins.
“It was a great placed ball,” Skaggs said. “It was just a good goal. It’s hard to be mad when everybody is marked up. (Stewart) stretched as far as she could and it was just right off the tip of her fingers.”
Ashland’s second goal came not by the feet of Collins, but from her head.
Collins took a Sarah Hudson corner kick to the backside of the net and was able to head the ball past Stewart for the game-deciding goal.
According to Lowman, that’s just the kind of play he expects from Collins.
“Charity is a very settled, very skilled player,” Lowman said. “She has a great shot. When we started getting on the attack she got better looks and she ended up getting the goal. Then she got the header and that was sweet.”
When asked how long it’s been since Ashland had been behind Boyd County, Lowman could only draw a blank. But it happened on Saturday.
From the game’s opening whistle, Boyd County kept pressuring the Ashland goal, and even outshot the LadyCats 9-4 in the first half.
The Lady Lions’ only goal of the game came when Lexie Lowe sent a corner kick deep into the box. The ball bounced around a bit before Brittany Smith was able to put it in the net.
“We came out strong and ready to beat them because we know we can,” Skaggs said.
Boyd County (7-7) is on a five-game losing streak, but multiple games in the week, school Homecoming and injuries haven’t helped the Lady Lions.
But instead of focusing on the negative, Skaggs looked at the positives of pushing Ashland to the limits.
“I give them props for coming out here on Homecoming day and staying focused,” he said. “We came out with a mentality that we’re going to take them and we know we can. This just fuels us.”
The LadyCats (9-6-2) finish off the season with four home games. They returned key goalkeeper/midfielder Aidan Young after she sat out for five weeks with a high ankle sprain.
KYLE HOBSTETTER can be reached at
khobstetter@dailyindependent.com or
(606) 326-2658.
Local Sports
LadyCat Comeback
Ashland rallies behind Collins to edge Boyd
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