A year and a half after leaving Louisville, Rob Zoeller has the Simon Kenton High School girls soccer program two victories away from its first state title.
The Pioneers (21-3-1) – ranked No. 4 in the state – will face No. 8 West Jessamine (22-4-1) at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the second semifinal of the state tournament at Bryan Station. No. 7 Owensboro Catholic (23-3-1) will meet No. 16 Lexington Catholic (17-8-2) in the 6 p.m. semifinal. The winners will meet in the championship game at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Zoeller was the boys soccer coach at Ballard from 2009-14, posting a 73-45-10 record. He previously was the girls soccer coach at Elizabethtown, where he won seven regional titles.
Zoeller left Ballard for Simon Kenton in May of 2015 and took his talented daughter, Abigail, with him. Now a senior, Abigail Zoeller leads Simon Kenton with 35 goals and 21 assists. She played at Sacred Heart as a freshman and a sophomore and has committed to Xavier University.
“I’ve been doing this lots of years and this is the first time I’ve been to the semis,” Rob Zoeller told the Cincinnati Enquirer after Saturday’s 4-0 quarterfinal victory over Lawrence County. “It’s hard. You have to have some luck and have things go your way.”
Of the four teams that reached the semifinals, only one has captured a state title – Lexington Catholic in 2002.
The boys state tournament will resume Thursday with semifinals at Bryan Station. No. 3 Daviess County (25-1) will face No. 10 Paul Dunbar (18-4-2) at 6 p.m., and No. 11 Covington Catholic (21-5-2) will meet No. 19 North Hardin (19-8-1) at 8 p.m. The final is set for 7 p.m. Saturday.
Covington Catholic is the defending state champion. Paul Dunbar won state titles in 1992, 2001, 2005 and 2013.
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes@courier-journal.com.