The Christian County High School girls’ soccer team is in a transition year, but hoping for steady growth as the season proceeds towards the district tournament in October.
Second-year coach Peyton Moshier returns a solid nucleus from a 7-13 squad that lost to Hopkinsville in the first round of the 2023 District 8 tournament.
Leading the way is junior Jayda Turner, who was the team’s goalkeeper last year. Moshier said he has moved her to the forward position in hopes of helping the Lady Colonels’ offense.
Joining Turner on offense will be sophomore forward Carliah Hobson, sophomore midfielder Jayleigh Campbell, junior midfielder Vikey Lopez and freshman midfielder Emerson Boyd.
“I think Carliah will do a great job holding down the forward spot and I’m expecting big things out of Emerson,” Moshier said. “I think Emerson will have a big impact for us.”
The Lady Colonels lost their top scorer, Alayah Lander, to graduation. Lander will be playing at Berea this fall. Second leading scorer Caleigh Clay also graduated.
“We have a lot of newcomers we have to plug in and see how they help us,” Moshier said.
Campbell will be controlling the offense at the midfield and Moshier said he would be counting on her steady play all season.
“I’m putting a lot on Jayleigh to control the game for us,” he said. “We are really depending on her to bolster our game.”
Defensively, Moshier said he hasn’t settled on a goalkeeper yet. But he is expecting whoever is in goal to get good help from sophomore Carlie Hobson, junior Katelyn Cain and sophomore Sarah Godsey.
Christian County almost wasn’t able to field a team this season, but an influx of players a couple of weeks ago prevented disaster.
“We’re just excited to get out and play,” Moshier said. “A couple of weeks ago, we didn’t even know if we would have a team. We aren’t too worried about August, but we are focused on getting better each game and getting ready for the district tournament at the end of the season.”
The Lady Colonels open the season at Paducah Tilghman on Aug. 13.
