Personal Injury Attorney in Lexington, SC.

The boys high school soccer game between Lexington Catholic and Tates Creek on Tuesday marked the third regular season matchup to be held over the past two seasons at Lexington SC Stadium.

It was part of a four-game agreement struck between LSC and Lexington’s boys high school coaches more than a year ago after the pro soccer club and youth program took a softer stance on its academy-level players joining their school teams.

But missing from that deal was a corresponding plan to host girls high school games, a point of contention for local girls coaches.

“We caused a big ruckus about it last year, and they could have made it right this year,” Henry Clay girls coach Haydon Warren said. “They had to follow through with the boys games out there, I guess. It doesn’t seem like the urgency is there to do it for the girls in the same way.”

Lexington Sporting Club reached out to Warren and Paul Laurence Dunbar girls coach Jeff Stone, whose teams won the 42nd and 43rd district championships, respectively, last season. But the dates LSC offered didn’t work for their teams.

Lexington Sporting Club youth club director Bryan Brooks acknowledged the club got a late start on looking at girls’ dates and also initially wanted to pair the high school games with home dates for their 2025 Gainbridge Super League champion women’s team.

“We spoke with multiple schools about hosting a girls’ match as part of the high school Showcase at Lexington SC Stadium, but we were unable to find a time that worked with the schools and the training/game schedules of our pro teams,” Brooks said. “We’ll keep having those conversations and hope to host the girls in 2027.”

The LSC only women’s team dates that corresponded with Kentucky’s high school season — Aug. 15, Sept. 11, and Sept. 25 — were an ill fit because the first and last were too early and too late in the girls’ regular season schedule and Sept. 11 is a Friday and meant a likely 4 p.m. kickoff for the high school game.

“That just wasn’t going to work for us,” Warren said.

Lexington Sporting Club spokesman Nolan Galbreath said the issue for the club is primarily the preservation of the stadium’s playing surface. Since LSC only charges adults for high school games and lets students in free to the 7,500-seat venue, revenue or lack thereof isn’t an issue for the boys games and wouldn’t be for girls, Galbreath said.

“That wasn’t the point of hosting these,” he said. “It was just to give these kids an opportunity to play in a big stadium with the lights and be able to help invest in the community here.”

Fitting high school games around their pro teams’ needs and the need to let the field recover between training sessions and games has been the challenge.

“Realistically, we were pretty tight on the dates that we were able to offer for boys or girls for any school just because of how much abuse that field takes with our two teams on it,” Galbreath said.

Last season, the stadium hosted regular season boys matchups between Frederick Douglass and Lafayette and Paul Laurence Dunbar and Henry Clay. In addition to Tuesday’s Tates Creek-Lexington Catholic game, the stadium will host Bryan Station vs. Madison Central on Sept. 22. All of the boys dates have been weeknight kickoffs that fall within the teams’ normal calendar.

“It’s crazy that pretty much all the boys’ teams are getting an opportunity before any of the girls get any sort of opportunity out there,” Warren said. “It’s unfortunate.”

Lexington SC Stadium held last season’s KHSAA girls state championship in addition to the boys final. It is set to do so again this year. Galbreath said LSC officials understand the concern about local girls teams not getting the same regular season opportunities.

“We knew people would be upset … We still wanted to be able to give that opportunity to schools again, even though it’s a cost deficit to us. It’s just a cool thing,” Galbreath said. “And, you know, Louisville City is not doing that. Racing’s not doing that over there. It’s just something that I think is pretty unique from a pro club to be able to do in the first place. … I think that’s something that we want to keep doing, and it’s important to us. And, hopefully, we can get girls teams back in it.”

Lexington Catholic senior Lily Knopp, a key player on the Knights’ defending 11th Region girls soccer champions, attended the boys team’s 2-0 win over Tates Creek on Tuesday.

“I would love to get the chance to play here, but I don’t think it bothers us at all,” Knopp said. “I think it would be fun. I think we would have a lot like the boys turnout. So, I think it would be amazing if we played here.”

Lexington Catholic boys coach Todd Bretz, whose three daughters all played soccer (Olivia Bretz is a senior defender at Central Michigan), agreed that having girls games at Lexington SC Stadium would be great for the sport.

“It’s a neat experience for the boys, and I think that (the girls) would enjoy every minute just as much,” Bretz said. “And I think as much as women’s soccer has grown here in Central Kentucky and the level that they play, I think it’d be a great opportunity.”

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Greg Hurst scored a pair of goals while Valentin Noël and Joseph Melto both notched a goal and assist apiece as New Mexico United took a 4-1 victory against Lexington SC on Wednesday night at Lexington SC Stadium, extending United’s undefeated streak in league play to six games.

New Mexico threatened early when Melto sent a finish wide of the right post off a through-ball, but the visitors made their control over the game tell late in the first half with a pair of rapid-fire goals. First, Hurst converted from the penalty spot in the 43rd minute after a handball by Lexington’s Braudílio Rodrigues in the box before Noel produced a brilliant long-range strike in stoppage time to double the advantage.

Lexington almost pulled a goal back 10 minutes into the second half only for Marcus Epps’ shot to hit Phillip Goodrum on the way toward goal and carom off the crossbar, but the visitors added to their lead just past the hour mark as Hurst bagged his second with a beautiful volley off Melto’s angled cross into the right side of the penalty area. Melto added a fourth with a powerful strike from 20 yards into the left corner of the net, and while Goodrum pulled a goal back for Lexington with 20 minutes to go, the visitors saw out an impressive road win.

Takeaways

Lexington SC – The hosts suffered another tough night defensively, albeit against some tremendous finishing by United, as they conceded four goals for a second time in five days. After the positive momentum the side appeared to be building following its away win against Players’ Shield leader the Tampa Bay Rowdies, LSC has taken a step back and will need a good few days to reset before it hosts Oakland next Wednesday night.

New Mexico United – The visitors extended their undefeated streak to six games in league play and have reeled off four consecutive wins across all competitions after another sterling display of finishing on the road. The quality produced by Valentin Noël, Greg Hurst and Joseph Melto was superb, with Melto adding his first league goal after scoring in the Prinx Tires USL Cup on Saturday night.

Key Moment

New Mexico’s Valentin Noël curled home a superb strike in first-half stoppage time to give the visitors a two-goal lead and a major boost shortly before the halftime break.

Key Stat

New Mexico recorded four goals in an away game for the first time in the club’s USL Championship history.

USLChampionship.com Player of the Game

Greg Hurst, New Mexico United – The Scottish forward bagged his second two-goal performance of the season and recorded a club season-high six shots while also completing 25 of 28 passes overall, notching one chance created and winning 2 of 2 ground duels.

Scoring Summary NM – Greg Hurst (penalty kick) 43’ NM – Valentin Noël (Ousman Jabang) 45+3’ NM – Greg Hurst (Joseph Melto) 62’ NM – Joseph Melto (Valentin Noël) 68’ LEX – Phillip Goodrum 70’