Six players scored and Ryle rolled past St. Henry 6-1 on Wednesday, Oct. 21, to reach the 9th Region girls soccer championship for the first time in 20 years.

The Lady Raiders will face Highlands for the region title and a spot in the KHSAA state tournament. It is the program's first region final appearance since 2006, according to LINK nky. The NKY Tribune noted it is Ryle's first trip to the final since the current playoff format began in 2012.

Ryle coach John Pohlman said the win reflected years of work to change the program's expectations.

"It's been a three- or four-year process of getting them to believe," Pohlman said. "When I first arrived, there were teams within our region they didn't think they could compete with, so I scheduled tough over the last three years to show them what it took to play at this level."

Lexi Andros opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a shot from just outside the box. Kourtney Rahschulte doubled the lead six minutes later. Then Liza Andros buried a free kick from about 40 yards out into the top of the goal to make it 3-0 before halftime.

Hailey Chalfant scored in the 50th minute. Leading scorer Ella Hoenderkamp and Kiera Mathis added goals a minute apart in the 62nd and 63rd minutes to put the match away. St. Henry's Kate Mueller scored with 12 minutes left, but the result was long settled.

Liza Andros and Claire Jansen each recorded two assists. Abby Lee added another.

Ryle outshot St. Henry 16-10 and put nine shots on goal to St. Henry's five. Goalkeeper Smith made four saves for the Lady Raiders.

Highlands advanced to the final by outlasting Notre Dame in a penalty shootout after 90 scoreless minutes of regulation and overtime. Junior goalkeeper Bailee Class stopped one attempt in the shootout, and the Bluebirds converted all four of their kicks to win 4-2. Gabby Neufarth drilled the decisive shot.

Highlands won the last two region titles and holds a 7-2 record in region finals over the last 14 years, according to the NKY Tribune. Ryle beat the Bluebirds 1-0 in a regular-season meeting on Aug. 22.

The championship game kicks off at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at Tower Park in Fort Thomas.