District Final Preview: Lady Indians playing for 3rd straight district championship

The Hillsboro Lady Indians have allowed just one goal this postseason, and to stay atop the SE District in Division II, they will have to upend a familiar foe in South Central Ohio League rival Chillicothe.

HHS (a No. 4 seed) and the No. 3 seeded Lady Cavaliers split their regular-season meetings this season, with the Lady Indians winning at their home field by a 3-1 score, but it was CHS (11-5-3) winning on their home field, defeating the Lady Indians by 2-1.

In the loss by HHS at Chillicothe, it was Payten Davis and Jenna Porter scoring goals for the Lady Cavaliers. In their first meeting, it was Teyanna Thompson who scored the lone Lady Cavaliers' goal on Aug. 19.

As for HHS (13-6-0) in their win against the Lady Cavs, in a match held at Richards Memorial Field, it was Trista Rhodes scoring a goal, along with an own goal by CHS, that gave them the early SCOL victory.

So what was the difference in the two matchups for the Lady Indians against CHS this season?

"The difference at their place was playing on the turf," Ratcliff said. "We were off that game, but again, there are no excuses. They weren't the same team we played the first time, and it was our off night.

"They (CHS) won and put pressure on us. They had their senior night that game and were very motivated. I will say we played much better in the second half of that game. We put pressure on them in the final 12 minutes."

To reach this point of the postseason, not only did the Lady Indians use their postseason experience against their opponents, but they've managed to play top-notch offense, followed with near flawless defense. The Lady Indians have allowed just one goal in their past 240 minutes of soccer, outscoring their opponents, 17-1.

"We are going to have to play 11 strong again," Ratcliff said. "For those who didn't see the district semifinal game, we forced Jackson to step up and defend more than our strong statistical leaders, which left them open a little more.

"Our mid-fielders and forwards had runs, and we even had a run out of the back by our fullback. We'll have to play sound defense and mark well in the box. This time, we'll have to put pressure on them and stop them from making runs with their fullback."

In individual scoring this postseason, Rhodes has two hat-tricks coming against Westfall and Jackson. She also scored a goal against Circleville.

Achor follows with four goals in the three postseason matches, while Kaylynn Bell and Lillian Van Zant each have scored two goals. Ashley Purtee and Natalie Sullivan have also added one game apiece this postseason.

For the entire '14 season, HHS has outscored their opponents, 76-24.

In their first tournament match, the Lady Indians defeated Westfall, 10-0; followed by a 3-0 win over Circleville and on Tuesday HHS defeated the Division II No. 9 state-ranked Jackson Ironladies, 4-1, as JHS entered that match with a 16-0-0 record.

Being the reigning two-time district champions, the Lady Indians have allowed a total of two goals in their past two district final matches. In 2013, HHS defeated Fairfield-Union, 1-0, and in '12 the Lady Indians topped Warren, 3-2 in OT.

This postseason for the Lady Cavs, they've defeated McClain (10-1), Unioto (6-0) and Athens (2-0) to outscore their postseason opponents, 18-1.

With both Hillsboro and Chillicothe combining to allow just two combined goals this postseason in six total matches, along with the two teams combining for seven goals in their two regular-season matches against each other, it means one thing … something has got to give.

"We gave the girls the night off on Wednesday and had a good practice on Thursday," Ratcliff said. "It was a light practice, but the girls are focused, not tense. The girls aren't taking the moment lightly and know it is a privilege to play in these types of games.

"The girls are playing some very good soccer right now, and that is nice to see this time of the season. Hopefully after this game, we'll be back at practice Monday and getting prepared again."

The district final match will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Jackson High School.