The play earned Higgs a seat on the bench and freshman Patrick Norris took over. Norris was immediately tested and rose to the challenge, getting a save minutes before the end of the half.
"(Norris) is working his way into a solid goal for us on the varsity team," Lichaa said. "He's a very skilled goalie."
But the JV keeper is young and only 5-foot-4. In the second half, Montgomery tried to take advantage.
"They were trying to go high on him," Lichaa said.
Lichaa returned Higgs to the goal and the keeper responded and was much more aggressive in the second half, Lichaa said. Higgs had two saves in the game.
Montgomery scored all three goals on Higgs but Lichaa feels his keeper can't shoulder all the blame.
"The goal in the first half was definitely costly for us and was something he should have had," he said. "I can't say either of the goals he let in the second half were his fault.
"For us to go far, it's going to have to be with Taylor Higgs, because he has the size right now. That's not to say Patrick Norris won't step up and become the number one guy. Which ever player is going to give me consistent play, that's who I'm going with down the stretch."
Samuel Cage led the Jaguar attack with nine shots, six on goal. He scored the teams second goal as well as being a part of the first score of the game to earn an assist. Cage hooked up with Michael Small.
East trailed in the second half until Cameron Miller assisted a Christian King goal just minutes before the end of regulation to tie the score.
Even with a tie, Lichaa is happy with the play of his team, he said.
"To tie, it's not a win but it's nothing to shake a stick at cause it's the number 15 team in the state," he said. "I'm really proud of where these guys have come since I started coaching nine weeks ago. Their attitudes are getting better and they're starting to believe in themselves.
Lexington Catholic 1, West Jessamine 0
The Colts (7-3) played Catholic (5-4-1) to a scoreless tie through 70 minutes of action Tuesday night before allowing a Catholic goal and taking a loss on the road, 1-0.
Jessamine Coach Nate Andrews said. "It wasn't a great goal. It's hard to get beat by that kind of goal."
Other than the lone goal, Andrews was pleased with the efforts of his defense, he said.
"(Catholic) didn't have too many clear cut chances," he said. "They had maybe three or four chances all night and that's including their goal on the free kick."
The defensive effort has allowed Andrews to tweak with his game plan.
"We've actually switch up our formation to be a little bit more attack-minded," he said. "One thing that allows us to do that is our defenders and how strong they are and how strong our keeper is."
Freshman keeper Jake Hedricks had 11 saves in the loss and has 48 saves this season.
The Colt defense has allowed just four goals on the year through 10 games.
The new look offense got the Colts opportunities, 10 shots, but the team couldn't finish on its chances.
"We created a couple chances the first half," Andrews said. " I think from our guys there was a lot of 'this is Catholic.' So, for them it was getting over the mental edge. In the second half, we got chances left and right and just weren't able to find the net."
Even with the loss on the road, West built confidence in the losing effort, Andrews said.
"I know we can play with anybody," he said. "And I think the guys are starting to figure that out because at West Jessamine there's been this air that the Lexington schools, you're never going to be able to compete with. It's something our coaching staff truly believes; we can play with anybody we face now."
"Our keeper anticipated a cross and the play went in behind him on a free kick," West
