Hillsboro wins intense battle against Fairfield 

HILLSBORO — Being tested in the early part of the season is never a bad thing, and for both the Hillsboro Lady Indians and Fairfield Lady Lions, the two teams had a solid display of soccer that included aggressiveness, intense competition and a final 10 minutes of action that kept the fans in attendance in suspense until the final seconds ticked off the clock. 

Once the time remaining went to all zeros on the Hillsboro scoreboard, it was the host Lady Indians gaining a 2-1 non-conference victory over the visiting Lady Lions.

“I was very happy with tonight’s effort. We are still not in great shape, but again, we got a lot of kids in the game, and I feel like we kept up with the tempo and flow of the game,” HHS head coach Leslie Molen said. “The early goals were great, and I knew we probably kicked the hornet’s nest and that something was going to come out of it, but I couldn’t have been prouder.”

Hillsboro’s home win saw them gain the upper hand with a strong start to the match with two goals within the first seven minutes of play, beginning with a goal from sophomore Cathleen Smart with 35:49 on the clock as she gained the goal off a corner kick from junior Ella Jordan for the early 1-0 advantage. 

The second goal of the match came a couple minutes later with the Lady Indians taking a two-goal advantage over the visiting Lady Lions following a goal from around 35 yards away kicked by senior Arianna Evans with the assist from a pass by Smart with 33:54 left in the opening half. 

Hillsboro kept the 2-0 lead for the remainder of the first half, but it wasn’t because of lack of effort by Fairfield as they continued to battle and force the Hillsboro defense to amp up their level of play as well, including a diving save by senior keeper Phoebe Holland with 8:25, then another strong stop at the goal with 5:25 on the clock. 

“Phoebe made some great saves and she is definitely coming along, and coming up to my style of play,” Molen said. “The demands are here, and tonight she stepped up.”

The same can be said about Fairfield senior keeper Meri Jackson, as she too made some nice stops at the net to keep the Hillsboro lead from increasing throughout the first half. 

Hillsboro’s lead continued to stay at two goals until Fairfield broke into the scoring column with a goal by sophomore Cameron VanDyke making it a 2-1 score. 

“It was never our intention to go into a total defensive mode, but obviously when they scored their one goal, then we needed to tighten up and be a bit more away and make sure we were marking,” Molen said.

The aggressiveness and intensity of the game increased in the final moments of the second half as Fairfield did all they could to get an opportunity to tie the score. Hillsboro’s defense stepped up and kept the Lady Lions from adding any more goals to their final total with a strong defensive effort for the one-goal victory. 

Molen spoke about the play of her defense on Tuesday against Fairfield, who last season were Division V district champions. 

“Riley Meek, our left back, played her butt off. She deserves to be noticed after this game because she played hard for us,” Molen said. “She locked down the left side. At halftime we had talked about how we needed to win balls out of the air, because we didn’t do that much in the first half. Riley stepped up and definitely set out to do that.

“Blair (Gard) played defensive mid and she did well, and Esther (Brandyberry) is a center defender and she contained. Parker (Wilkin) played tough for a sophomore, and she really buckled down on the right side. Piper (Wilkin) is a great player as well, and she definitely locked it down back there.

“This was very important for us to get this under our belt,” Molen continued. “The girls wanted to get this win, and it gives us some more confidence moving forward.”

Next for Fairfield (1-1, 2-1) is an away non-conference match on Thursday, Aug. 20 at Bethel-Tate (2-0) with a start of 7 p.m.

Hillsboro (2-0) plays next on Thursday, Aug. 20 on the road at Western Brown (1-0) with a start time of 7 p.m. 

BOX SCORE
FHS    0 1 — 1 
HHS    2 0 — 2