Lady Tigers defend home field against Chillicothe
McClain senior Kay Hughes (3) is pictured. (HCP Photos/Jim Jones)
GREENFIELD — The McClain varsity girls soccer team improved their overall record to 7-4 after defeating Frontier Athletic Conference foe Chillicothe, 3-2 Tuesday in Greenfield at McClain Field.
McClain is a young and in-experienced team who has improved every time they take the field. Some of that youth was responsible for the Lady Tigers first two goals against Chillicothe with both goals coming in the first half which gave McClain a 2-0 halftime advantage.
Freshman Sydnee Walker scored the first goal at the 34:40 mark off a deflection of a shot by Paisley Pryor. McClain’s second goal was by another freshman, Lyndi Cockerill at the 20:28 mark of the opening half.
“On our first goal Sydnee (Walker) was in the right place at the right time and she put her shoulder on it and scored,” McClain head coach Blain Bergstrom said. “
The second half was a defensive battle with neither team scoring until Harley Peters pulled Chillicothe to within one goal at 2-1 with 17:23 left in the second half.
Pryor put the Lady Tigers back up by two (3-1) on an unassisted goal with 9:31 left in regulation time.
“Paisley (Pryor) put us back up by two goals when she got by their defenders and scored on a nice shot form the corner,” Bergstrom said.
McClain’s backup keeper, Izzy Carter who is a senior made several nice stops of shots on goal by the Lady Cavaliers over the next nine minutes to keep the slim lead intact.
Chillicothe managed to score a late goal with just .13 seconds remaining, but it was not enough as McClain held on for the exciting and hard-earned win.
“They scored their first goal on a penalty kick after we fouled them inside the box,” Bergstrom said. “Izzy (Carter) who was starting her first game for our injured starting goal keeper Mia Wagner did a pretty good job for us tonight.
“We have a lot of inexperience on this team and we need to continue improving. Tonight we just didn’t have it and they didn’t either. We need more energy and enthusiasm and really need to do better and that’s the toughest thing for a coach.
“The biggest thing in coaching is to motivate your kids to improve so when you get to that stretch run and into the tournament you are starting to peak. My whole goal as a coach, is to continue working hard to improve and get better.”
The Lady Tigers improve to 7-4 overall and will host Washington on Thursday, Oct. 1 with a 5 p.m. start time.
