Fairfield girls soccer earns 5-goal win over McClain

LEESBURG — The Fairfield Lady Lions scored five goals on Thursday evening en route to a shutout 5-0 victory over non-conference and Highland County foe, the McClain Lady Tigers at Fairfield High School. 

The Lady Lions led 1-0 at halftime, then followed that with four more goals in the final 40 minutes of play. 

Fairfield’s first goal was scored by senior Emerson Zink with 24:37 left in the first half, with the assist off a corner kick by senior Vivian Henninger. 

The second half saw Henninger score her first goal of the match with 34:26 on the second half clock. The lead went to 3-0 when Henninger scored her second goal of the match off a kick from 25 yards out, as the kick was from an angle, landing into the corner of the goal with 26:19 on the clock. 

With 15:00 left in the match sophomore, Landyn Hodson scored a goal for a four-goal Lady Lion advantage. The fifth and final goal of the match was scored by sophomore Ruby Henninger with 9:18 left in the contest. 

“It is always tough to have back-to-backs,” FHS head coach Jacob Alexander said. “Last night we were down at Piketon for a game and didn’t get back until late, so you are trying to fight nature of just not getting enough sleep for the girls. We talked about how you have to push through that mental block, and that was what the halftime speech was.

“We came out with decent energy, it wasn't to our norm, but we have been battling that this year as we have gone through that a couple times where we will get behind early and keep battling back. The Hillsboro and Fayetteville games were like that for us, so it was good to come out and get the lead. At halftime we talked about being mentally strong, and how you have to push through, don’t think about being tired and play soccer, and our girls did that. 

“I am happy we got the goals, but I’m happier we got the shutout.”

Speaking of the shutout, Alexander talked about the defense of the Lady Lions. 

“Landry Teeters, Isabelle Hale and Whitlee Morrow started back there, and they did a great job,” Alexander said. “They limited (McClain’s) front line from taking the shots, and Meri (Jackson) came off the front line, helped herself, and she had some smart plays where she came out and just gathered the ball and kept them from taking the shot. 

“We had some subs do the same thing with Miley Brown and Addison Tolle coming in on the back line. Our defensive mids did a great job, too, of helping with that. Ruby Henninger starting there does a great job of helping with the back line, and we had a couple people try it out tonight to get experience. We are young with a big group of seniors, no juniors, and a bunch of sophomores and freshmen.

“Overall, I thought we did a good job sharing the ball,” Alexander continued. “It is tough to not only have the late night, but we played on turf last night, then to come back to our grass field it is an adjustment you have to make, and I thought the girls did a good job of doing that. The mental toughness showed.”

Next for Fairfield is a non-conference game on Monday, Aug. 31 at home when they host the Clermont Northeastern Lady Rockets at 7 p.m.