Fairfield Lady Lions shut out Hillsboro in season opener
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — Friday Night Futbol took place Aug. 12 at Hillsboro High School, where the 2022 season opened with the visiting Fairfield Lady Lions serving a shutout against the host Hillsboro Lady Indians, winning by a 2-0 score in non-conference play.
The battle between the Lady Lions of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference and the Lady Indians of the Frontier Athletic Conference saw the two teams play hard for an entire 80 minutes, as Hillsboro out-shot the visiting Lady Lions 17-7, but it was Fairfield who made their shots count with one goal in each half.
Fairfield’s first goal was scored by Kenzie Tolle, who was assisted by Kennedy Zink, with 27:05 left in the first half, leading to the 1-0 score.
Hillsboro had opportunities to score in the first half, even having a penalty kick opportunity, but that goal attempt was stopped by Fairfield goalie Alayna McIntosh.
Having a 1-0 lead at halftime, Fairfield added another goal in the final 40-minute half, taking a two-goal lead with 19:59 left in the contest as Faith Donley put the ball into the left corner of the net past the goalie with the assist by Hailey Tolle.
“The girls had nine practices this offseason with some girls in cheer camp, things going on left and right and being in the gym with all the rain we’ve had, so for the girls, this is really the first time they have been on the field as a team. It was good to get the result, but we weren’t at the top of our form yet,” Fairfield head coach Jacob Alexander said. “It is the first game, so we can only go up from here.”
Fairfield’s defense held on to the 2-0 lead for the win, but it wasn’t easy as the Lady Indians put pressure on the Fairfield squad with numerous stops by the defense and their goalie to keep the shut out intact, including stops by McIntosh at goal with 28:55 and 24:00 left in the contest. The stop at goal with 24:00 was followed by another quick stop on a corner kick opportunity.
“We went to a more defensive formation this season after we’ve lost our top two scorers from last season, and we are taking our strengths as we had a lot of defense returning from last season,” Alexander said. “It is tough to lost that scoring, but we do have girls who started all last year filling those spots, like Faith Donley, Caitlyn Quickle and Kennedy Zink that can score goals.
“We have girls in the back, seniors at the defensive mids like Hailey Tolle, Olivia Bellamy, Hallie Haines at center back, and others like Kara Gleadle, Avery Teeters, Alayna McIntosh and Emmi Vance. We are a veteran team, and it helps they have experience so when we don’t have the practices or scrimmages, they are still able to step up.”
Coach Amanda Miller of Hillsboro gave some thoughts about the game and talked about how her team is still figuring some things out.
“We are young this year, and we have a lot to figure out,” Hillsboro girls head coach Amanda Miller said. “We lost 12 seniors from last year, and we have a lot of strong endurance players that we are moving around and trying in different positions. Hopefully we can get that figured out and get our positions set.
“We passed the ball really well, but we didn’t capitalize on our shots. We struggled with capitalizing. We did have way more shots than them, but we just struggled. We worked on 50-50 balls (Friday), and that was one of our big struggles, getting stronger out of the air.”
Miller spoke about some of the players who stood out in the season opener.
“We have two freshmen that have been surprises in Kobie Miles and Kamryn Asbury that have stepped up big time, and my center-midfielders Rylie Scott and Peighton Bledsoe have stepped up this year,” Miller said. “Our sweeper, Gracie Thoroman, stepped up to fill big shoes to play a position she’s never played before and is doing a good job back there.
“We still have some growing pains, but hopefully we can sort things out this week with practices. We have a lot of knowledge to learn and are inexperienced in some areas, so we have some experience to gain.”
In all, Hillsboro totaled 10 corner kick chances, and Fairfield had six corner kicks. For HHS, senior Kinsey Gilliland had four saves, while McIntosh finished with 12 saves.
Next for Fairfield (1-0) is a non-conference game on Wednesday, Aug. 17 against Piketon at FHS at 5 p.m.
Hillsboro (0-1) is scheduled to play again Saturday, Aug. 20 at Eastern in non-conference play.
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The battle between the Lady Lions of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference and the Lady Indians of the Frontier Athletic Conference saw the two teams play hard for an entire 80 minutes, as Hillsboro out-shot the visiting Lady Lions 17-7, but it was Fairfield who made their shots count with one goal in each half.
Fairfield’s first goal was scored by Kenzie Tolle, who was assisted by Kennedy Zink, with 27:05 left in the first half, leading to the 1-0 score.
Hillsboro had opportunities to score in the first half, even having a penalty kick opportunity, but that goal attempt was stopped by Fairfield goalie Alayna McIntosh.
Having a 1-0 lead at halftime, Fairfield added another goal in the final 40-minute half, taking a two-goal lead with 19:59 left in the contest as Faith Donley put the ball into the left corner of the net past the goalie with the assist by Hailey Tolle.
“The girls had nine practices this offseason with some girls in cheer camp, things going on left and right and being in the gym with all the rain we’ve had, so for the girls, this is really the first time they have been on the field as a team. It was good to get the result, but we weren’t at the top of our form yet,” Fairfield head coach Jacob Alexander said. “It is the first game, so we can only go up from here.”
Fairfield’s defense held on to the 2-0 lead for the win, but it wasn’t easy as the Lady Indians put pressure on the Fairfield squad with numerous stops by the defense and their goalie to keep the shut out intact, including stops by McIntosh at goal with 28:55 and 24:00 left in the contest. The stop at goal with 24:00 was followed by another quick stop on a corner kick opportunity.
“We went to a more defensive formation this season after we’ve lost our top two scorers from last season, and we are taking our strengths as we had a lot of defense returning from last season,” Alexander said. “It is tough to lost that scoring, but we do have girls who started all last year filling those spots, like Faith Donley, Caitlyn Quickle and Kennedy Zink that can score goals.
“We have girls in the back, seniors at the defensive mids like Hailey Tolle, Olivia Bellamy, Hallie Haines at center back, and others like Kara Gleadle, Avery Teeters, Alayna McIntosh and Emmi Vance. We are a veteran team, and it helps they have experience so when we don’t have the practices or scrimmages, they are still able to step up.”
Coach Amanda Miller of Hillsboro gave some thoughts about the game and talked about how her team is still figuring some things out.
“We are young this year, and we have a lot to figure out,” Hillsboro girls head coach Amanda Miller said. “We lost 12 seniors from last year, and we have a lot of strong endurance players that we are moving around and trying in different positions. Hopefully we can get that figured out and get our positions set.
“We passed the ball really well, but we didn’t capitalize on our shots. We struggled with capitalizing. We did have way more shots than them, but we just struggled. We worked on 50-50 balls (Friday), and that was one of our big struggles, getting stronger out of the air.”
Miller spoke about some of the players who stood out in the season opener.
“We have two freshmen that have been surprises in Kobie Miles and Kamryn Asbury that have stepped up big time, and my center-midfielders Rylie Scott and Peighton Bledsoe have stepped up this year,” Miller said. “Our sweeper, Gracie Thoroman, stepped up to fill big shoes to play a position she’s never played before and is doing a good job back there.
“We still have some growing pains, but hopefully we can sort things out this week with practices. We have a lot of knowledge to learn and are inexperienced in some areas, so we have some experience to gain.”
In all, Hillsboro totaled 10 corner kick chances, and Fairfield had six corner kicks. For HHS, senior Kinsey Gilliland had four saves, while McIntosh finished with 12 saves.
Next for Fairfield (1-0) is a non-conference game on Wednesday, Aug. 17 against Piketon at FHS at 5 p.m.
Hillsboro (0-1) is scheduled to play again Saturday, Aug. 20 at Eastern in non-conference play.
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