Fairfield Lions advance to sectional finals with postseason win over Portsmouth
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — Going into the 2019 season, wins were at a premium for the Fairfield Lions as they hadn’t won in the regular season for two consecutive seasons. However, this season the Lions have not only won six times in the regular season, but on Saturday afternoon they gained a win in the Division III SE District Semifinals by defeating the Portsmouth Trojans, 8-0.
The win on their home field showed the improvement the team has made in the rebuild of their program from the past few seasons, and in the semifinal win they gave themselves another chance to continue their season.
“This is a good win, and it was a little bit of a different game than last Thursday when we played North Adams. They are a little more of a physical team, and Portsmouth wanted to sit back and play defense on us,” FHS head coach Jacob Alexander said. “Therefore, we took a little while to adjust.”
Alexander also spoke about the improvement his team has had in 2019 compared to the past couple seasons.
“Having this many wins compared to past seasons is really big for the guys,” he said. “It is one of those things where you get into a lull with losses, but being able to get six regular-season wins and to win in the tournament builds confidence, and hopefully the program can build from that.
“The seniors being through the losses the past couple years righted the ship, and early on it was the win against West Union that was the turning point. We were down two goals and came back to score three goals in 15 minutes, and from that point on they realized they had the ability to do it. The skills have always been there, but knowing they can do it has helped.”
On Saturday, the Lions (7-10) led 2-0 at halftime with the first goal coming from Jordan Cameron with the assist from Ethan Saunders for the one-goal advantage with 5:07 left in the first half. The second goal of the first half for the two-goal lead came with a goal by Reese Teeters with the assist by Jon Bentley as the clock read 1:26.
Saunders and Cameron lead the Lions in scoring with seven goals each this season. Cameron also leads the Lions in assists in ’19 with seven.
Before the first two goals were scored by the Lions, the start of the game saw neither team get any solid shots off toward the goal, but most of the pressure came from the Lions with them controlling possession for most of the first half.
FHS keeper James Bentley did have a big save with around 8:18 left in the opening half.
“We got two goals at the end of the first half and kind of got things moving, and in the second half we took off,” Alexander said.
Then came the second half, and the game went completely in the favor of the Lions, scoring six more goals for the final eight-goal lead.
The first of six second-half goals by the Lions included a goal from Cameron at 34:55, followed by a goal at the 23:07 mark of the half by Teeters for the 4-0 lead with the assists by Koben Zink and Cameron.
Fairfield added to their lead with a goal by Zink at 20:23, and with 10:35 the Lions had a goal from Saunders for the 6-0 advantage.
The Lions added two final goals with Braighton Wise putting the goal into the back of the net with 2:42 on the clock, and the eighth and final goal for FHS was scored by Tucker Watson with the assist by Zink with 49 seconds left in the match.
Bentley finished the game with two saves.
“It was good to see everyone get a chance to play, and that helps with team morale too,” Alexander said. “Jordan got two goals, and hopefully that is a morale boost too going into Lynchburg-Clay on Wednesday, who are a really good team.
“We are excited to play Lynchburg-Clay. They are a good team, and it is one of those games we hope we are up for the task.”
Next for the Lions is a sectional final game on Wednesday, Oct. 16 against conference rival Lynchburg-Clay at LCHS with a 5 p.m. start.
The win on their home field showed the improvement the team has made in the rebuild of their program from the past few seasons, and in the semifinal win they gave themselves another chance to continue their season.
“This is a good win, and it was a little bit of a different game than last Thursday when we played North Adams. They are a little more of a physical team, and Portsmouth wanted to sit back and play defense on us,” FHS head coach Jacob Alexander said. “Therefore, we took a little while to adjust.”
Alexander also spoke about the improvement his team has had in 2019 compared to the past couple seasons.
“Having this many wins compared to past seasons is really big for the guys,” he said. “It is one of those things where you get into a lull with losses, but being able to get six regular-season wins and to win in the tournament builds confidence, and hopefully the program can build from that.
“The seniors being through the losses the past couple years righted the ship, and early on it was the win against West Union that was the turning point. We were down two goals and came back to score three goals in 15 minutes, and from that point on they realized they had the ability to do it. The skills have always been there, but knowing they can do it has helped.”
On Saturday, the Lions (7-10) led 2-0 at halftime with the first goal coming from Jordan Cameron with the assist from Ethan Saunders for the one-goal advantage with 5:07 left in the first half. The second goal of the first half for the two-goal lead came with a goal by Reese Teeters with the assist by Jon Bentley as the clock read 1:26.
Saunders and Cameron lead the Lions in scoring with seven goals each this season. Cameron also leads the Lions in assists in ’19 with seven.
Before the first two goals were scored by the Lions, the start of the game saw neither team get any solid shots off toward the goal, but most of the pressure came from the Lions with them controlling possession for most of the first half.
FHS keeper James Bentley did have a big save with around 8:18 left in the opening half.
“We got two goals at the end of the first half and kind of got things moving, and in the second half we took off,” Alexander said.
Then came the second half, and the game went completely in the favor of the Lions, scoring six more goals for the final eight-goal lead.
The first of six second-half goals by the Lions included a goal from Cameron at 34:55, followed by a goal at the 23:07 mark of the half by Teeters for the 4-0 lead with the assists by Koben Zink and Cameron.
Fairfield added to their lead with a goal by Zink at 20:23, and with 10:35 the Lions had a goal from Saunders for the 6-0 advantage.
The Lions added two final goals with Braighton Wise putting the goal into the back of the net with 2:42 on the clock, and the eighth and final goal for FHS was scored by Tucker Watson with the assist by Zink with 49 seconds left in the match.
Bentley finished the game with two saves.
“It was good to see everyone get a chance to play, and that helps with team morale too,” Alexander said. “Jordan got two goals, and hopefully that is a morale boost too going into Lynchburg-Clay on Wednesday, who are a really good team.
“We are excited to play Lynchburg-Clay. They are a good team, and it is one of those games we hope we are up for the task.”
Next for the Lions is a sectional final game on Wednesday, Oct. 16 against conference rival Lynchburg-Clay at LCHS with a 5 p.m. start.