Soccer

Matt Abner has worked his way up the coaching ranks and will embark on a new journey this fall. Abner, longtime youth soccer coach and administrator in both the Winchester Youth Soccer League and FC of Kentucky before taking over the boys and girls soccer teams at Clark Middle five years ago, was named girls soccer coach at George Rogers Clark High School Wednesday. “They've had a good (feeder) program over the past few years and the FC of Kentucky really helped advance our girls and be successful,” he said.

For a couple hours Saturday morning, the streets of downtown Stanford were a little greener than usual, with people milling around town dressed in their St. Patrick's Day finery. The purpose of the green attire was not just to celebrate the holiday. No, those choosing to wear green garb did so because they were participating in the third annual Leprechaun Leap  5K Run/Walk. The 3.1-mile Leprechaun Leap, which wound along Main Street, up Danville Avenue, into Oakwood Estates, back onto Danville Avenue, across Portman Avenue and down Lancaster Street before ending back on Main, was sponsored by the Lincoln County High School Boys and Girls Soccer Boosters as a fund-raiser for the two programs.  A total of 47 runners and walkers forked over entry fees of $25 and $20 to participate in this year's Leprechaun Leap.

A West Jessamine High soccer player who helped bring her team to state multiple years has signed to play for Morehead State University. Rebekah Hulsing, 18, will serve as goalkeeper for the Ohio Valley Conference Division-I school. Hulsing said she is happy to sign with Morehead. “I'm really excited,” she said. “I've known where I wanted to go since my freshman year.” Hulsing's family, fellow soccer players, the West Jessamine girls' basketball team, and many others attended the signing Feb. 6 in the school's library.

Sam Miller fulfilled a lifelong dream last week as he officially signed to play soccer at the University of Kentucky. Miller is only the second East Jessamine boys' soccer player to compete at the NCAA Division I level, joining 2002 graduate Jacob Isenhour, who played at Western Kentucky University. “I chose UK because I've looked up at not only the soccer program but the university as a whole ever sense I was a little kid,” Miller said. “Also I've always wanted to go to a bigger university.” Miller scored 37 goals and tallied 15 assists during his freshman through junior years at East; a torn ACL in August 2012 kept him off the pitch for his senior year.

HARRODSBURG - Landon Souder is ready to make it official. It's been nearly a year since the Mercer County senior committed to Evansville to play his college soccer. And on Wednesday, Souder will sign a letter of intent with the school on the first day of the national signing period. There will also be a signing ceremony at the school on Friday. Souder said he talked to some other schools - namely Kentucky, Xavier and Notre Dame - but once he committed to Evansville, he was solid in his commitment.

It didn't take East Jessamine long to find a replacement for former girls' soccer coach DeAngelo Wiser. One day after East announced the resignation of Wiser, it announced that Sara Morgan would be the program's fifth head coach in the last 10 years. Morgan is a 1999 graduate of Centre College. While at Centre, she became the all-time leading scorer in the Centre and SCAC (Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference) history and was named the SCAC player of the year in 1998. Morgan also attended Tates Creek High School in Lexington, where she was named all-state four times and all-region three times.

In addition to success on the field, the Danville boys and girls soccer teams are again showing they are excelling in the classroom. Both teams received the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Team Academic Achievement Award last week. The girls team posted a grade point average of 4.14 to rank 12th in the nation, while the boys were 34th with a team GPA of 3.67. Combined, 32 of the two teams' 38 players earned Kentucky High School Athletics Association academic all-state honors.

East Jessamine soccer coaches DeAngelo Wiser and Tom Morgan have resigned. Wiser coached girls' soccer at East for five season and previously coached at West Jessamine and Jessamine County High School. Early last season, Wiser won his 200th career match and has 223 victories. Morgan has coach boys' soccer at East for four seasons with a combined record of 38-36-11.

The No. 9 Centre College women's soccer team got a pair of first-half goals Saturday and shut out Agness Scott 2-0 in the first round of the NCAA¿Tournament at Danville. The Colonels (20-1) play either Emory or DePauw in today's second round game at 5 p.m. It's the second-straight season the Colonels have advanced to the second round of the tourament. Mary Taylor Kersey scored both goals for Centre. She scored in the 27th minute off a rebound, then scored a minute later off a pass from Anne Mitchell.

Most wins ever? Check. Highest ranking ever? Check. Hosting in the NCAA tournament? Now the Centre College women's soccer team can check that off its list, too. One milestone at a time, the Colonels have been adding to a growing list of firsts for their program, and they'll achieve another this weekend when they host first- and second-round games in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Centre coach Jay Hoffman said earning the chance to host postseason games is the latest first for a team that already has several firsts this season.