LouisvilleCatholicSports.com

Toppers improve to 2-1 with road win at Southern

The Presentation Toppers traveled to Southern High School and defeated the Lady Trojans 5-0 Monday night off of a hat trick from Pres Junior Shelbie Francescon.

From the outset, Presentation controlled the possession and tempo of the game. Highlighted by 3 corner kicks in less than a 3-minute span in the first 20 minutes of the game, the Toppers showed their dominance throughout the match.

With just over 20 minutes to go in the first half, Francescon got her first notch on the scoreboard as she scored an unassisted goal to give Presentation the 1-0 lead. Less than 5 minutes later, sophomore Alex Hibbs scored her first of two goals in the game with 15:30 left to play. Hibbs battled through some mis-kicks and miscommunication within the box of Southern’s defenders to win possession and pace a shot right into the far post, just past the reach of the Goal keeper.

Presentation had four more opportunities to score from a corner kick in the half, but managed just two shots on goal, both going wide.

With 5:20 remaining in the game, Southern threatened to score as they were able to gain momentum across midfield. However, sophomore defender Kaelin Walters was able to stabilize the defense, regain possession and send the ball back to her offensive teammates.

Just two minutes later, Francescon scored her second goal of the game as she sent in a low-paced shot, which the goalie whiffed with her feet allowing the ball to slowly trickle into the goal, giving Presentation the 3-0 lead going into halftime.

The Toppers began the second half with possession of kick off and rarely gave up control of the ball as the last 40 minutes were reminiscent of the first half of play.

Presentation was able to get off 4 shots early in the first half, though none of them got them any recognition on the scoreboard. Senior Bailey Selent and Francescon threatened twice in the beginning of the second, but both shots went just wide of the goal, keeping the score at 3-0.

Then with 31:43 left to go in the game, Francescon scored her third goal of the game. After a pass from Hibbs in the box, Francescon was able to sneak the ball just inside the inside post, away from Southern’s goalie, giving Presentation the 4-0 lead.

Just four minutes later, Francescon would give Hibbs a payback off of a set piece, putting her team up 5-0. Off of a corner kick driven perfectly in front of the goal—yet away from the keeper’s reach—Francescon found Hibbs head as she was able to sail the ball into the back of the net. It was a golden example of textbook soccer and set piece plays.

The 5-0 win was Presentation’s largest margin of victory of this early season, giving them a 2-1 record for the year. Their next game is a home game, Wednesday, August 22 vs. Atherton High School at 5:30 p.m.