Henry Clay ends city teams’ long girls soccer losing streak to Lexington Catholic

Henry Clay’s girls soccer team has had an uneven start to its season but achieved something Wednesday that no Lexington team has been able to do against Lexington Catholic since 2019.

The Blue Devils earned a 1-1 tie against the visiting Lady Knights, the program that has won four of the last five 11th Region titles.

While that result might seem trifling to some, consider LexCath held a 35-game win streak against Lexington’s eight other high school teams until Henry Clay (2-2-2) changed the operative adjective to “unbeaten.”

Coincidentally, the last Lexington opponent to achieve a tie with Lexington Catholic was Henry Clay at home on Aug. 28, 2019, exactly five years ago to the day of Wednesday’s game. That score was also 1-1.

“Being able to tie this team and not lose to them by a lot — like the previous years — I think we’re doing really good, so far,” said senior forward Avery Allen, whose first half goal gave the Blue Devils a lead at the break. “We have a bright season ahead of us.”

Allen laughed as she said “a lot.” Henry Clay’s results against Lexington Catholic during her career have been losses of 3-0, 7-0, 1-0 and 3-1. The 3-1 loss in 2021 came in the region finals when she was a freshman.

“We were like ‘we’ve got to keep this up,’” Allen said of the team’s halftime conversation. “We can’t let go because we know they want to beat us. They’re going to come out hard in the second half.”

Lexington Catholic (4-1-1) tied the game 10 minutes into the second half on a goal by Lily Knopp. The Knights had better chances to break the tie in the late-going, but Henry Clay held.

Last year, the Knights saw their 44-game win streak against 11th Region competition snapped by Madison Central in a heart-breaking penalty kick shootout region finals loss. LexCath coach Terry Quigley took Wednesday’s tie in stride.

“I thought Henry Clay had a great game tonight,” Quigley said. “I think anybody who watched this game would think both teams really left everything on the field.”

LexCath’s last losses to city opponents came in 2019 at the hands of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Tates Creek. The Knights avenged both defeats that postseason as their unbeaten streak got underway.

“Thirty-six games (still unbeaten) is a pretty good record, but I was sure we lost a game or two in the last couple of years,” Quigley said. “I didn’t know that we had a streak, so it’s OK.”

For Henry Clay coach Hayden Warren, the tie showed how her team is capable of playing.

“Anytime you go up against Catholic, you know they are going to be really challenging and throw everything they have at you,” Warren said. “You have to adapt and find a goal and find a win. We found a goal. We didn’t find a win this time. Maybe next time. … Our girls believe in themselves a lot this year.”

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