Arnold, Newkirk lead Lady Lions past Lady Tigers

The Fairfield Lady Lions scored early and often in their game against the McClain Lady Tigers, as they put the pressure on the hosts, winning by a 14-5 score for the non-conference victory.

Fairfield didn't have just one, but two hat-tricks in the win, with junior Carly Arnold and junior Abigail Newkirk each scoring at least three goals in the match.

For the match, Newkirk finished with four goals, while Arnold led FHS with five goals in the Lady Lions' season-opening win.

Also with a hat-trick was McClain junior Taylor Polley, with all her goals in the second half, as the junior totaled four goals in the loss.

The Lady Lions (1-0) led by a 6-1 score by the end of the first half with Arnold being the first to break the scoreless tie less than a minute into the match (39:22), getting past the defense of the Lady Tigers for the one-goal advantage.

"I'm pleased with the effort," FHS head coach Sam Spargur said. "We've been working in practice on perfecting our small touch and being quick on the ball. I told the girls to take it serious in practice, and they did in this game.

"This is what we want to do more of. I'm proud of them."

The FHS head coach spoke more about his two top scorers from the nonconference match.

"I'm very pleased with Carly and Abigail," Spargur said. "I told them they had to step up and replace the scoring we lost from last year, and they did. Again, I'm very pleased. They did very well."

McClain (0-2) responded with a goal of their own with 38:10 as freshman Kelli Uhrig tied the score at 1-1.

From there, the first half belonged to the visitors with five consecutive goals to end the first half as Arnold had consecutive goals at 35:22 and 24:47, extending the Fairfield led to 3-1.

With 20:05 on the first-half clock, freshman Lyndee Spargur scored her first goal for the Lady Lions.

Newkirk then began her goal scoring with goals at the 8:26 and 3:59 marks of the first half to give Fairfield a five-goal advantage with a 6-1 score.

The second half continued to treat the Lady Lions well, with sophomore Grace Shope putting the visitors ahead by six goals at 7-1 with a goal at the 33:58 mark.

Fairfield's lead moved to seven goals when Arnold scored her fourth goal of the match with 25:37 left on the McClain Field scoreboard. With 21:30 remaining in the match, Fairfield added to their lead with a goal from Spargur.

The score went to 10-1 with 16:04 on the clock as Newkirk added to her career match with a goal, but that was quickly answered by the Lady Tigers with a goal from Polley at the 15:30 mark of the second half.

Shope scored her second goal for the Lady Lions at 14:38 to make the score 11-2, then the score moved to 12-2 when sophomore Shaynelle Turner added to the lead of FHS.

Newkirk scored her fourth and final goal of the match with 12:16 remaining in the match for an 11-goal lead.

MHS wasn't finished with Polley breaking away from the defense of FHS for her second goal (10:51), giving MHS their third goal of the match. Polley gained her hat-trick with 7:40 remaining by breaking away from the FHS defense for the second time for a 13-4 score.

Polley's fourth goal came with 3:53 on the clock, and Arnold's final goal came late in the match.

Another top aspect of the game for Coach Spargur was the play of sophomore keeper Aubrey Drabik.

"She was solid (Monday)," he said. "We've been working with her, working on her confidence as our new keeper, and that confidence is showing."