2017 Highland County High School Soccer Preview

(Editor's note: Jim Jones of The Highland County Press contributed to the McClain soccer previews). 

The 2017 fall soccer season for four Highland County schools opens with the start of the regular season on Saturday, as both Hillsboro and Lynchburg-Clay open their 2017 season, while McClain and Fairfield open their seasons starting Monday.

Highland County has grown into a competitive area when it comes to soccer. Look no further than last season when the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs qualified for the Division III State Final Four, while on their way to state they went undefeated in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference while also becoming district champions for a fourth straight season, plus winning their first regional title in program history.

The Lynchburg-Clay boys soccer team won their fourth straight SHAC championship as well, and like their school counterparts, went undefeated in conference play as they finished as district runners-up.

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The Hillsboro Lady Indians played in the district semifinals last season and were in the hunt for a league championship up to the final week of the regular season.

All of the success of last season and the seasons before them have built up to the start of the 2017 fall soccer season, where expectations are still high for the area teams, with some looking to continue their success while others continue to build their programs up to the level they are seeking.

Here is a look at all eight soccer teams from Hillsboro, Fairfield, Lynchburg-Clay and McClain.

GIRLS SOCCER

Fairfield Lady Lions
Head Coach: Paij Shelton
2016 Record: 8-7-0
Southern Hills Athletic Conference (SHAC)
Division III

The Fairfield Lady Lions are in the midst of a rebuild for their program, as second-year head coach Paij Shelton works to build the Lady Lions program to take the next step into one day becoming conference contenders in Division II of the SHAC.

In 2016, FHS finished with an overall mark of 8-7-0, and in conference play, they finished 5-2. They also played in the district semifinals. Now with a season in the books as the head coach, Shelton feels the team is improved from a season ago.

“From summer transitioning into preseason, we have kicked things off very well,” Shelton said. “Some of the girls have seemed to take a great leadership role already. I feel that we have improved tremendously on our maturity of the game. We have also enhanced our foundational skills and the overall tactics of the game.”

This season, FHS has a total of 14 players, including seven seniors in Shay Turner, Annya Sheppard, Aubrey Drabik, Rylie McKinley, Kodi Haynes, Ashley Moore and Carli Reiber. The lone junior on the roster is Lyndee Spargur.

There are also three sophomores and three freshmen on this season’s roster.

FHS lost three seniors from last season, but this season they do return close to 10 starters. Shelton said her team goals are simple: to maintain their defense and to see players step into leadership roles.

“I want us to maintain our strong defense and to fill strong shoes that the seniors had left,” Shelton said. “We will be low in numbers once again this year; however, we have a very strong and talented junior class. So I am expecting a great deal of leadership from them.”

The Lady Lions begin regular-season play on Monday, Aug. 21 in a non-conference game against McClain at McClain Field in Greenfield.

Hillsboro Lady Indians
Head Coach: Jeremy Ratcliff
2016 Record: 12-5-1
Frontier Athletic Conference (FAC)
Division II

The Hillsboro Lady Indians will be in a new conference this season, but with four other leaguemates from the former South Central Ohio League (SCOL), the Lady Indians will also welcome the Jackson Ironladies to the mix, a team they have a recent past with.

Last season, HHS was in the mix for a league championship up until the final week where they finished runners-up, but as Chillicothe won the championship, the Lady Indians defeated that same team in the sectional finals to reach the district round where they eventually fell to JHS by a 2-1 score.

Entering this season, HHS head coach Jeremy Ratcliff — who is entering his fourth season at the helm — wants to see more consistency from his team as they look to add new faces to the starting roster after losing four seniors from a year ago.

“We had a pretty successful season last year, and it was nice for the kids to gain all they experience last season,” Ratcliff said. “A negative aspect of (having the experience) is having the familiarity and complacency set in, and I’ve noticed that this summer and preseason. A lot of people are very complacent right now, and that’s frustrating. We won’t reach our full potential if we allow complacency to set in, so we’ll have to fight through that.

“There is no use to cry over spilled milk now. If you didn’t do anything in the summer months to improve as an individual or a collective unit, there isn’t much you can do about it now. Moving forward, we have August and September to improve, and as a coach I can’t allow the complacency I saw then move over to the season because then I’m not doing my job. It is up to us as coaches to set the high expectations and show them how to get there, but at the end of the day they are high school athletes, so there is accountability on their part as well. There has to be a sense of ownership from the athletes as well.”

This season, the Lady Indians have 11 seniors in their program, along with five juniors, nine sophomores and five freshmen. Of those players, returning starters are seniors Taryn Magulac, Riley Moberly, Natalie Sullivan, Madi Marsh, Ellie Howland, Morgan Holland, Tessa Ernst, Ellie Elmore and Aidan Chaney. The rest of the senior class includes Ashleigh Baucom and Kaley Burns.

Returning juniors are Callan Myers, Molly McCreary and Molly Ferguson. Other juniors on the roster are Emily Hawk and Shaylin Neal. There are also a combined nine sophomores and five freshmen on the roster.

“We have several girls who we are looking at to be leaders or are capable of leading this team. Last year, our four seniors were captains,” Ratcliff said. “I’m looking at the kids now, and they are displaying the traits to be a leader. It is just more than on-field production, it has to be how you practice and what you do away from games.

“It is a new team every August, and even with returning players we still have to become tighter as a team and figure out where everyone is going to play. Our strength is our defense and our experience. Even though it can be a negative at times, the girls have the familiarity with me as their coach and know what I expect from them. Offensively, we have to have multiple players step and score.”

The Lady Indians open the 2017 season on Saturday, Aug. 19 in a home match at HHS against Eastern Brown.

Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs
Head Coach: Dennis West
2016 Record: 19-2-0
Southern Hills Athletic Conference (SHAC)
Division III

The 2016 soccer season for the LC Lady Mustangs was one that will not soon be forgotten with their 19 wins and their run of success that sent them to the Division III State Semifinals. That team did graduate some important players that were a big part of that success, and this is a whole new year for LC, but still with high expectations, too.

One of the players lost to graduation was Division III first-team All-Ohio selection Hannah Binkley, who as a senior totaled 27 goals and eight assists. For her four-year career, she collected 61 goals.

In all, LC lost nine seniors to graduation, a total of 166 points, including 68 goals and 30 assists. As an entire team last season, LC scored 357 points (138 goals, 81 assists). LC outscored their opponents, 139-15 last season, with Serena Smith and Chelsea Hart sharing the keeper duties. Smith finished with 37 saves, and Hart had 22 saves.

“We’ve had a good summer,” LC head coach Dennis West said. “Our numbers are up, and we have a strong group back. We have our leading scorer back and a group of seniors who have been strong for us.

“We have leadership with our seniors as they are setting the example for the underclassmen. This is a good group of players, and none of our seniors or any of the girls on the roster have lost a SHAC game in their career.”

Even with the loss of one All-Ohio player, the Lady Mustangs still have another one on the roster in junior Peyton Scott. Last season, Scott led the Lady Mustangs with 28 goals and 16 assists. In her first two seasons with LC, Scott has scored 50 goals and collected 21 assists.

In ’16, LC won their first 13 games before suffering a loss, then went on another six-game winning streak before the state semifinal match.

Also in ’16, LC won their sixth straight SHAC championship and enter this year with a 43-0-1 mark in conference play since the ’10 season.

LC is coming off a season where they’ll also have Riley Creditt returning, who totaled 27 points, including 11 goals and five assists.

Savannah Cochran is also back. In ’16, she finished with 24 points (six goals, 12 assists), and Angela McLaughlin returns off a season where she had 21 points (seven goals, seven assists).

Also returning to the LC roster are players who scored double-figure points (goals/assists) last season in Kaylee Lunsford (16 points: seven goals, two assists) and Taiyler Marcelino (16 points: six goals, four assists).

The defense of LC is also a key to their success.

“We lost four defenders from last year, so we are looking to regroup there,” West said. We are building our defense around Emily Pinkerton.

“We also have four midfielders (Haylee Lay, Marcelino, McLaughlin and Cailee Elam), and Scott as a junior will have a lot of the offense on their shoulders. We also have some sophomores that will be vital to the offense too.”

Even with the loss of a strong senior class from last season, the Lady Mustangs will have high expectations on them this season.

“We want to see them go and have the same mindset as any other year,” West said. “We have high expectations for them and we told the girls that every time they take the field, they’ll have a bullseye on their back, and they are using that as motivation.”

LC opens the 2017 season at home on Saturday, Aug. 19 when they host Western Brown at 5:30 p.m.

McClain Lady Tigers
Head Coach: Shawn Peterman
2016 Record: 2-14-0
Frontier Athletic Conference (FAC)
Division II


The McClain Lady Tigers enter the 2017 season with 18 players, including 11 returning lettermen. Within the 18 players in the soccer program, MHS has three seniors as they look to improve their competitiveness on the field this season.

Seniors for the Lady Tigers are Hannah Smith and Madison Robinett (both returning starters) and Payton Smith. MHS also has junior Haley Peterman, who will be a midfielder, and a combined 14 sophomores and freshmen.

This season, McClain will be without their all-time leading scorer in program history and Division II All-Ohio selection Taylor Polley, who graduated last season. Polley scored 100-plus goals in her four years as a starter for the Lady Tigers.

“We are hoping for a good and fun season,” MHS head coach Shawn Peterman said. “Win, lose or draw, we want to come out and play our best soccer. With baby steps, we should progress and develop as the season goes on.”

Some of the players to watch with the Lady Tigers are midfielder Peterman, along with Hannah Smith and Beckley Smith, who are being looked to anchor the defense of MHS. There is also Karissa Nebbergall, who will be the keeper this season. Plus, the Lady Tigers have Kerigan Pollard, a freshman at forward, and Sarah Free as a midfielder.

MHS will also be playing in the Frontier Athletic Conference (FAC) this season, and Peterman knows the competition will be tough.

“With this new conference, it will be competitive, and this season we will be a completely different McClain girls soccer team as we look to be more competitive as well,” Peterman said.

McClain will begin the 2017 season on Monday, Aug. 21 by hosting the Fairfield Lady Lions in non-conference play. 

Fairfield Lions
Head Coach: Jacob Alexander
2016 Record: 1-12-2
Southern Hills Athletic Conference (SHAC)
Division III

The 2017 season for the Fairfield boys soccer team is on the horizon with games beginning on Monday, but as they enter this year, the Lions want to have a better performance in the win-loss-tie column than they did one season ago as they are set to take the field.

Last season, the Lions had one victory, two ties and 12 losses, but the players on the Lions team gained the experience needed to build their program and eventually add more wins to their side of the scoreboard. FHS had nine seniors in ’16, but this year they do have four returning players back on the roster, and one of those starters – Garrett Spargur – is a senior.

In all, the Lions will be a very young team with just two seniors in the aforementioned Spargur and Quinton Beatty. The junior class will consist of Tanner Collins and Zach Ison. There are also six sophomores and three freshmen on the 13-player roster for ’17.

“Our goal for this fall is to be competitive and try to win a few games,” FHS head coach Jacob Alexander said. “We are coming off of a year in which we didn't win a game until our first tournament game. We progressed nicely as the year went on, and we want to build off of that progress even with the limited numbers coming back.”

That win came in the sectional semifinals when the Lions defeated the West Union Dragons by a 3-1 score. Their season ended with a 1-0 loss to North Adams in the sectional finals.

“Our preseason practices have gone well, we are working on getting our numbers up and getting everyone up to speed,” Alexander said. “This team has a lot of new faces and with that comes new attitudes. This team seems to be a lot more positive and optimistic. With a new season comes a new start.”

Fairfield opens their season on Monday, Aug. 21 as they travel to McClain to face the Tigers.

Hillsboro Indians
Head Coach: John Weber
2016 Record: 3-12-1
Frontier Athletic Conference (FAC)
Division II

After winning three games last season, the Hillsboro Indians used last year to gain experience and learn how to compete at the varsity level of high school soccer. This year, that is a different story with HHS having higher aspirations and goals as they prepare to play in the inaugural season of the Frontier Athletic Conference.

Coach John Weber said the Indians have seven seniors on their roster and a total of nine players who are returning starters from the sophomore, junior and senior classes. Those returning starters include sophomore Titus Heiser and juniors Logan Crafton, Quinn Conlon (who led HHS in scoring and assists in ’16), Spencer Rudy and Andrew Gunderman. Returning senior starters are Marshall Ward, Payton Bell, Joseph Rudy and Tyler Loch.

“Quinn is huge for us scoring, while Marshall and Peyton are the linchpins for this team to go. Those two in the midfield to create plays is where Quinn will get his touches to score,” Weber said.

Also for HHS, non-returning starter seniors include Cameron Reed and Matt Ryan. Senior Jacob Burton will be the statistician, as he was a three-year player for HHS but wasn’t medically cleared to play this season.

There is a change at keeper this season with Joe Rudy moving from keeper to defense and sophomore Jason Lovlie becoming keeper.

“We should do pretty decent compared to years past,” Weber said. “The main hurdles are going to be after our first two games, we have three powerhouses in games with Wilmington, Western Brown and Chillicothe. Out of our first five games, three of them are studs. It will be a difficult beginning stretch, but as the season goes, we’ll do all right.”

Comparing last year to this year, HHS has more returning players entering the season, as in ’16 they had just four returners.

“The big thing is we’ve matured soccer-wise, and that helps big time to have upperclassmen with some experience,” Weber said. “We need to improve from last year’s record. We started last season with three wins, but then we didn’t win another game and that was tough.

“This year, I look for us to heavily improve with the upperclassmen base we have. Adding Cameron and Matt back this year (they haven’t played since their freshman year), they will help with their athletic ability.”

Being in the Frontier Athletic Conference, the team that will be new to the Indians is Jackson, as Weber said in the 11 years he’s been with the program either as the head coach or an assistant, they’ve not faced each other in the regular season or the postseason.

“They are an unknown for us in regular season, tournament or even a scrimmage, so that will be unique to see,” Weber said. “As a league, we are strong, and it should be a pretty competitive league this year.

“To become a better team, we have to play quicker with the ball. That comes with maturity, and if we can do that, we have the athletes on this team to be successful.

“Our defense will have to improve from last season. We were in a majority of games last year, we were within a goal of most games, but this year we just need to finish them. I’m excited because I think we have a fun and unique team this year.”

The Indians open the season on Saturday, Aug. 19 when they host the Eastern Brown Warriors in non-conference play.

Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs
Head Coach: Dennis West
2016 Record: 14-3-1
Southern Hills Athletic Conference (SHAC)
Division III

The Lynchburg-Clay boys soccer team has dominated the Southern Hills Athletic Conference for the past four seasons, as they were undefeated in the conference in ’16. 

Now for the 2017 season LC not only wants to keep their string of SHAC championships going, but they feel they have some unfinished business in the postseason too, falling in the district finals the past two seasons.

“They are very anxious to get the season started,” LC head coach Dennis West said. “I’ve overheard them commenting to each other about getting back deep in the tournament as we’ve been to back-to-back district final games.

“They feel they are capable of playing better at that level, and this summer and offseason they’ve really put in a lot of hard work.”

LC returns has a total of eight seniors, six of whom are returning four-year players. Those players are Blake Croy, Zach Davidson, Ethan Garrison, Austin Hilt, Kyle Luneke and Quintin Smith. Also in the senior class are Noble Walker and Eli Hollingsworth.

Luneke led LC with 58 points last season, including 27 goals and four assists. Hilt was next with 33 points (11 goals, 11 assists). Garrison totaled 13 points (three goals, seven assists). Croy led LC with 77 saves in ’16.

In all, LC has 25 players on their boys roster and will be able to have at least two JV games, possibly more. They enter this season losing three seniors from last year’s team.

“This is a great group of players, and to go with all the returners we have a strong freshmen class that will help us out,” West said. “This is a hard-working group and have spent a lot of time in the weight room with 7 a.m. workouts.”

Besides the eight seniors, LC has four juniors in Tyler Minton, Damin Pierson, Drew Pitzer and Chris Young, plus 10 sophomores and three freshmen.

Young last season totaled 26 points (eight goals, 10 assists) and Pierson finished with 25 points (11 goals, three assists).

“A lot of our sophomores played quite a bit, and this is as deep of a team as I’ve ever had,” West said. “Our depth enables us to put a lot of pressure on teams, and we are skilled enough at positions where we don’t have to be nervous when making substitutions. I’m pleased with the growth of this team, and things really started picking up at the end of July.”

Having a talented roster like LC makes it more enjoyable on all fronts.

“Having a team like we have makes it more fun as a coach,” West said.

LC opens the 2017 season on Saturday, Aug. 19 vs. Western Brown at LCHS.

McClain Tigers
Head Coach: Nick McNeal
2016 Record: 6-9-2
Frontier Athletic Conference (FAC)
Division II

The McClain Tigers have a new head coach this season with former championship player Nick McNeal taking over the top spot for the McClain program as they prepare for the upcoming 2017 season.

McNeal takes over for former head coach Jon Chamblin following a season where the Tigers went 6-9-2 overall. McNeal is a former varsity captain for the Tigers, as he was a member of the first South Central Ohio League champion soccer team for McClain in ’10.

With the new season, the Tigers have a total of 21 players on their roster, including seven returning letterman seniors. Those returning seniors are: Avery Voss, Caleb Pointer, Johnny Free, Brock Dean, Brennon Godfrey and Camden Yates. Another senior for MHS is Riley Moon.

Other key returners from last season for MHS are junior Evan Hutchinson and sophomores Griffin Foltz and Hunter Hice.

“Our team goal is to have a winning season,” McNeal said. “The key to a successful season and building our program back to a championship level is having a strong sophomore and freshman class to build on.

“I want to see us have growth and compete to the best of our abilities this season, and from there we need to aspire for higher goals in the league. We have a talented and athletic group of players, and I do expect a winning season.”

McNeal also spoke about what his goals are as a coach.

“I want to see the program grow and progress and bring back the soccer passion to McClain,” he said.

MHS opens the season vs. Fairfield on Monday, Aug. 21 at McClain Field.