Hillsboro defeats McClain, 4-1

GREENFIELD — The Hillsboro girls varsity soccer team traveled to Greenfield, Thursday night, to take on the host McClain Lady Tigers in South Central Ohio League action.

After 80 minutes, the Lady Indians came away with a 4-1 victory and in the process snapped a two-match losing streak.

The SCOL battle between the Lady Indians and Lady Tigers was a defensive and very competitive match, which was played much better by the McClain girls than the game played at Hillsboro earlier in the season.

“I thought we came out a little flat to begin the game, but finally got the offense going,” Hillsboro head coach Jeremy Ratcliff said. “It probably wasn’t one of our better efforts, but it’s a league win, and we will take it.”

The Lady Indians led 3-1 at the end of the first half, led in scoring by senior Hope Tira, who had two goals, while Ellie Elmore had the other.

MHS senior Taylor Polley scored the Lady Tigers’ only goal of the match, on an unassisted goal at the 11:25 mark.

Hillsboro’s Madi Marsh scored the only goal of the second half, on a header, as the Lady Indians kept the three-goal lead for the remainder of the match. 

“Defensively, our girls did a better job of staying connected and not getting stretched out in the second half,”  Ratcliff said. “(Taylor) Polley is always a dangerous player who you don’t want to see get loose with the ball because she’s really good.”

The McClain girls, despite losing to their county rivals, still played well most of the game, especially defensively when they gave up just four goals to a very talented and high-scoring Hillsboro squad.

“I thought defensively we played really well all night,” McClain head coach Shawn Peterman said. “Our girls played Hillsboro competitively well, and except for a couple of sloppy goals that we gave up, it could have been a 2-1 game.

“We took away some valuable lessons from this game, and there are still a few things we need to work on, but nothing major that can’t be fixed.”

The Lady Tigers play their final regular-season game Thursday when they host Unioto in a 5 p.m. start time. Senior night will be observed before the start of the contest.