{"id":10097,"date":"2025-07-20T08:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T08:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/10097\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T08:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T08:37:11","slug":"seven-returning-starters-make-conner-girls-soccer-team-a-9th-region-title-contender-once-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/10097\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven returning starters make Conner girls soccer team a 9th Region title contender once again"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter<\/p>\n

Conner girls soccer coach Mike Hughes took his team to the Bluegrass State\u2028Games over the weekend to get an idea of what they\u2019ll need to work on during the final three weeks of preseason practice.<\/p>\n

The Cougars have seven starters returning from last year\u2019s team that posted\u202820 shutouts, reached the 9th Region championship final for the first time and\u2028finished with a 22-3-1 record.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Conner senior Izelee Kerns was voted Defensive Player of the Year by local girls soccer coaches last season. (Photo by Ted Jackson)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a good chance Conner will be ranked among the top teams in the state\u2028going into the upcoming 2025 season because of the success they had last fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo replicate a season like that is almost, I won\u2019t say impossible, but that can\u2019t \u2028be your goal,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cYou want to be back in the finals or win it, which I \u2028think we can do, but you\u2019re not trying to replicate that success. You\u2019re trying to\u2028build on it with what this team can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conner had a 13-1 record against 9th Region opponents last season. The only\u2028loss came against Highlands, 1-0, in the region championship match.<\/p>\n

In addition to seven returning starters, Hughes said he has 13 other players who\u2028gained valuable varsity experience. Their collective goal is to win the first 9th Region title in\u2028program history that narrowly escaped them last fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve talked about that,\u201d the coach said. \u201cNow we know what it takes. It\u2019s just a matter of can we get our team to jell like we did last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two of Conner\u2019s returning seniors are cornerbacks Isabelle Swaney and Izelee\u2028Kerns, who was named Defensive Player of the Year by Northern Kentucky coaches. Kerns has made a commitment with Western Michigan University.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Senior midfielder Reagan Buchert is another one of Conner\u2019 seven returning starters. (Photo by Allee Fay)<\/p>\n

Last season, they spearheaded a defensive backline that didn\u2019t allow a goal in the Conner\u2019s first\u202812 victories and gave up 10 in 26 matches for a 0.38 average that ranked third in the\u2028final statewide statistics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIzelee is a kid who\u2019s going to wherever the ball is. She\u2019s just a tenacious defender, \u2028whether it\u2019s in the air or 1 v. 1,\u201d coach Hughes said. \u201cIsabelle kind of offsets her. She \u2028gives us a second defender who lets Izelee go do her thing and still gives us a good\u2028presence in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team did lose veteran goalkeeper Ally Welch to graduation. Her replacement will\u2028be sophomore Cara Fay, who saw action in eight varsity matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cCara is a very athletic goalkeeper,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cYou can\u2019t replace someone like Ally with her experience and technical ability, but you can rebuild and be in good shape with someone like Cara.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cougars had a balanced attack last year with five players scoring 20 points or more in goals and assists. Six of them are returning, including senior Reagan Buchert, a University of Tennessee-Martin recruit, and sophomore midfielder Ella Folke, who had a team-high eight assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel pretty good about being able to create (scoring) opportunities,\u201d Hughes said. \u201dNow, whether we finish them, that\u2019s going to be the key.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Terry BoehmkerNKyTribune sports reporter Conner girls soccer coach Mike Hughes took his team to the Bluegrass State\u2028Games…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[10034,10035,49,48,10036,10037,10038,10039,10040,10041,10042,561,82,10043,10044],"class_list":["post-10097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-9th-region-girls-soccer","tag-bluegrass-state-games","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-conner-girls-soccer","tag-conner-girls-soccer-coach-mike-hughes","tag-ella-folke","tag-isabelle-swaney","tag-izelee-kerns","tag-mike-hughes","tag-reagan-buchert","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-university-of-tennessee-martin","tag-western-michigan-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}