Quick goals lead to Lady Indian win over LC
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
DODSONVILLE — The Hillsboro Lady Indians traveled to face the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs in a match between two teams who had 16 wins, one loss and two ties combined on the season entering Saturday's non-league Highland County rivalry matchup.
Once the final buzzer sounded after 80 minutes of play between the Hillsboro Lady Indians and host Lynchburg-Clay, the match belonged to the Lady Indians, 3-1 at LCHS.
After starting the season with nine consecutive wins, LC had dropped their past two games, including a 1-0 loss to the Western Brown Lady Broncos last Thursday. In their first nine matches, LC outscored their opponents 69-1, but in their last two matches they have been outscored 4-1.
HHS, the co-leader of the South Central Ohio League, stands at 8-0-2 overall and 5-0-2 in the SCOL. The Lady Mustangs are 9-2 overall and 4-0 in the Southern Hills League.
Hillsboro is 3-0-1 in their last four matches, which occurred in a seven-day span. In that span, HHS defeated Wilmington, Washington and LC. They tied Clinton-Massie, 1-1 for the second time of the season.
"The girls have played their butts off the past seven days. We had four games and two practices with a Sunday off and that is it," HHS coach Leslie Molen said. "The kids are beat, and it will be good to have a couple days before our next match.
"We told the girls at halftime 'we know you're tired, but we have to pull this win out.'"
As for the Lady Indians, they were coming off their second tie of the season to the Lady Falcons of Clinton-Massie, but against LC they scored two quick goals late in the first half and added an insurance goal 4:27 to offset the lone LC goal.
In the first half, HHS scored their goal with 8:37 and 6:58 remaining. The score went to 1-0 with Jordan Davis scoring the goal as the keeper was out of position due to the Lady Indians' defensive pressure close to the goal. Davis' goal was assisted by Lauren Grimes.
Less than two minutes later, HHS took a two-goal advantage with Leah Pence kicking a goal from nearly 20 yards away, from an angle to the left post. The goal came with 6:58 left in the opening 40-minute half.
Trailing by two goals (something LC hasn't had to encounter all season long) at halftime, along with a pep talk from coach Dennis West, the Lady Mustangs played with more urgency in the final 40 minutes, cutting into the lead of the Lady Indians.
At the 34:54 mark, Karen Hilt kicked the ball from the corner, allowing Brandi Hunter to score a goal with a header. The goal put LC down by one goal at 2-1.
"I was a little disappointed we gave up the one goal, but again, the defense has been on the field a lot lately," Molen said. "A span of games we've had lately, against the teams we've played, first tell the girls they have the stamina and skills to do this.
"This also helps us when the tournament starts."
HHS answered 29 minutes later with a goal to put them back up by two goals when Grimes, off a corner kick, kicked the ball from 15 yards out for a 3-1 HHS lead, leaving 4:27 left in the match.
Though there were a combined four goals scored, the first half was full of near goals and defensive pressure from both Highland County teams.
In the first half, HHS pressured near the LC goal, but just missed, and the same with the Lady Mustangs in HHS territory with 22:50 in the first half. HHS keeper Sara Sexton had two big saves at goal for HHS with 19:18 and 18:55.
LC keeper (in the first half) Bree Gragg had a save with 17:27 left in the first half, keeping the match scoreless. Also for LC, Sydney Cromer helped with defense by kicking the ball out of the box, again keeping the match scoreless in the opening half.
One of the better saves of the first half occurred with 13:31 with Gragg knocking the HHS kick away from the goal, and while still on the ground grabbing the ball, not allowing HHS to have another opportunity to put the ball in the back of the net. Erin Rowlands also provided good defense during the aforementioned span for LC.
The same can be said for the Lady Indians' defense late in the first half with their defensive effort stepping up with the pressure on from LC, including around the 6:00 mark of the first half with their defense holding off the LC pressure near the goal.
The second half had more defensive play from both teams including LC keeper in the second half Emma Setty diving to make a stop at the left side of the goal with 30:01 left in the match.
Sexton returned the favor for HHS with a big-time stop with 10:50 remaining. For the match, Sexton totaled nine saves. LC totaled 11 saves, with Gragg gaining four saves and Setty with seven.
The win moves HHS to 8-0-2 overall. They will take on the McClain Lady Tigers at McClain Field on Tuesday, Sept. 27 in an SCOL match at 5 p.m. LC will play again on Wednesday, Sept. 28 when they travel to Leesburg to take on the Fairfield Lady Lions at 4:30 p.m.
BOX SCORE
HHS 2 1 — 3
LC 0 1 — 1[[In-content Ad]]
Once the final buzzer sounded after 80 minutes of play between the Hillsboro Lady Indians and host Lynchburg-Clay, the match belonged to the Lady Indians, 3-1 at LCHS.
After starting the season with nine consecutive wins, LC had dropped their past two games, including a 1-0 loss to the Western Brown Lady Broncos last Thursday. In their first nine matches, LC outscored their opponents 69-1, but in their last two matches they have been outscored 4-1.
HHS, the co-leader of the South Central Ohio League, stands at 8-0-2 overall and 5-0-2 in the SCOL. The Lady Mustangs are 9-2 overall and 4-0 in the Southern Hills League.
Hillsboro is 3-0-1 in their last four matches, which occurred in a seven-day span. In that span, HHS defeated Wilmington, Washington and LC. They tied Clinton-Massie, 1-1 for the second time of the season.
"The girls have played their butts off the past seven days. We had four games and two practices with a Sunday off and that is it," HHS coach Leslie Molen said. "The kids are beat, and it will be good to have a couple days before our next match.
"We told the girls at halftime 'we know you're tired, but we have to pull this win out.'"
As for the Lady Indians, they were coming off their second tie of the season to the Lady Falcons of Clinton-Massie, but against LC they scored two quick goals late in the first half and added an insurance goal 4:27 to offset the lone LC goal.
In the first half, HHS scored their goal with 8:37 and 6:58 remaining. The score went to 1-0 with Jordan Davis scoring the goal as the keeper was out of position due to the Lady Indians' defensive pressure close to the goal. Davis' goal was assisted by Lauren Grimes.
Less than two minutes later, HHS took a two-goal advantage with Leah Pence kicking a goal from nearly 20 yards away, from an angle to the left post. The goal came with 6:58 left in the opening 40-minute half.
Trailing by two goals (something LC hasn't had to encounter all season long) at halftime, along with a pep talk from coach Dennis West, the Lady Mustangs played with more urgency in the final 40 minutes, cutting into the lead of the Lady Indians.
At the 34:54 mark, Karen Hilt kicked the ball from the corner, allowing Brandi Hunter to score a goal with a header. The goal put LC down by one goal at 2-1.
"I was a little disappointed we gave up the one goal, but again, the defense has been on the field a lot lately," Molen said. "A span of games we've had lately, against the teams we've played, first tell the girls they have the stamina and skills to do this.
"This also helps us when the tournament starts."
HHS answered 29 minutes later with a goal to put them back up by two goals when Grimes, off a corner kick, kicked the ball from 15 yards out for a 3-1 HHS lead, leaving 4:27 left in the match.
Though there were a combined four goals scored, the first half was full of near goals and defensive pressure from both Highland County teams.
In the first half, HHS pressured near the LC goal, but just missed, and the same with the Lady Mustangs in HHS territory with 22:50 in the first half. HHS keeper Sara Sexton had two big saves at goal for HHS with 19:18 and 18:55.
LC keeper (in the first half) Bree Gragg had a save with 17:27 left in the first half, keeping the match scoreless. Also for LC, Sydney Cromer helped with defense by kicking the ball out of the box, again keeping the match scoreless in the opening half.
One of the better saves of the first half occurred with 13:31 with Gragg knocking the HHS kick away from the goal, and while still on the ground grabbing the ball, not allowing HHS to have another opportunity to put the ball in the back of the net. Erin Rowlands also provided good defense during the aforementioned span for LC.
The same can be said for the Lady Indians' defense late in the first half with their defensive effort stepping up with the pressure on from LC, including around the 6:00 mark of the first half with their defense holding off the LC pressure near the goal.
The second half had more defensive play from both teams including LC keeper in the second half Emma Setty diving to make a stop at the left side of the goal with 30:01 left in the match.
Sexton returned the favor for HHS with a big-time stop with 10:50 remaining. For the match, Sexton totaled nine saves. LC totaled 11 saves, with Gragg gaining four saves and Setty with seven.
The win moves HHS to 8-0-2 overall. They will take on the McClain Lady Tigers at McClain Field on Tuesday, Sept. 27 in an SCOL match at 5 p.m. LC will play again on Wednesday, Sept. 28 when they travel to Leesburg to take on the Fairfield Lady Lions at 4:30 p.m.
BOX SCORE
HHS 2 1 — 3
LC 0 1 — 1[[In-content Ad]]