Lady Tigers lose heartbreaker to Hillsboro

GREENFIELD — The McClain Lady Tigers and Hillsboro Lady Indians battled for 80 minutes Thursday night (Oct. 8) in Greenfield at McClain Field, and after the final horn sounded it was Hillsboro winning 1-0.

It was a bittersweet senior night for seven Lady Tiger players who wanted to pick up their 10th win of the season, but it was not to be on this night.

Only two of the seven McClain seniors started on last year’s dream team and championship season, but the other five who saw little or no varsity playing time last year, improved greatly as this season progressed.

Hillsboro’s Adrianna Evans scored the only goal of the hard-fought and well-played defensive match at the 29:57 mark of the opening half.

It was a shot the McClain senior keeper Izzy Carter got her gloves on but it still managed to find the back of the net.

Both teams had several scoring opportunities in the game but great defense and keeper play kept it from happening.

McClain seemed to control the momentum and the ball a little more in the first half, and the Lady Indians seemed to flip it and control the game for most of the second half.

“I thought Hillsboro possessed the ball very well tonight, especially in the second half,” McClain head coach Blain Bergstrom said. “But I must say that we had our chances to score, especially in the first half.

“We had three or four shots on frame that our girls have made most of the time this year, and they know that.”

McClain’s Bergstrom continued to talk about the details of the Frontier Athletic Conference rivalry game.

“When you play a team like Hillsboro that has the same similarities, it comes down to one play, one touch, or one save and they just made that one extra play,” Bergstrom said. “Their goalie (Phoebe Holland) made a couple of good saves against us and at times we just didn’t put the ball where we needed to and that’s how it happens in a game that’s close.”

The seven seniors on this year’s team for the Lady Tigers are Larah Henson, Paisley Pryor, Kay Hughes, Izzy Carter, Laura Stevenson, Baylee Hickok, and Allie Burgess.

Coach Bergstrom talked afterwards about what these seniors have accomplished in the career at McClain.

“This senior group has been the winningest class of girls in McClain history,” he said. “In a four-year stretch they will have won the most games and will have the best winning percentage than any other girl’s soccer team ever.

“These seniors have meant so much to our program and they’ve been a good group to coach.”

The Lady Tigers will host Eastern Brown Monday, Oct. 12 with a 5 p.m. start.