Hillsboro Lady Indians dominate McClain for FAC victory
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — The Hillsboro Lady Indians played one of their best games of the season Tuesday night as they traveled to McClain High School and defeated the host Lady Tigers, 7-1.
Hillsboro’s Frontier Athletic Conference win began with a strong first half as they built a 4-0 lead. In the second half, they outscored McClain 3-1, scoring the first two goals of the second half, as they had a 6-0 lead with 36:25 left in regulation.
“We had two girls have a brace (two goals in a game) in Sami Blair and Brynn Bledsoe. We had a beautiful set-piece goal by Lexi Sheppard, and we had another goal in the first half by Laila Zugg off a corner kick assisted by Sheppard,” HHS coach Anthony Carson said.
[[In-content Ad]]
“Last night we played against Wilmington, and it was the first game we played all year on turf. Even though we lost last week to Miami Trace, everything cued up, and we are seeing better soccer than we had the previous six games.”
The first-half scoring for the Lady Indians began with a goal at the 32:27 mark when Bledsoe scored a goal while going one-on-one with the keeper of McClain for the 1-0 lead. Next, Bledsoe scored a second goal with 24:47 left in the first half off a shot from 25 yards out for the two-goal advantage.
Hillsboro’s Sheppard made it a three-goal lead with a goal off a free kick (22:13), and the final goal of the first half came with 1:49 on the scoreboard off a 20-yard kick from Zugg.
The second half saw the Lady Indians score goals five and six early on, when Blair scored with 39:09 off a pass from Sheppard for the assist, and the sixth goal came with 36:11 on the clock by Sheppard for he second goal of the match.
“This was a good team win,” Carson said. “We put some players in different positions, and one who stands out is Zugg. Up until this point of the season she’s been a striker, but I had her play midfielder and drop into the defense tonight, and she was a lot more effective for us. That is a big change for a player to do, and she did a great job.”
McClain’s lone goal came with 19:30 left in the match off a kick from Payton Pryor. Hillsboro added one final goal with 15:27 left on the clock when Blair added her second goal of the match.
“It was a little disappointing because I thought we could have hung with them a little better than we did,” McClain coach Tyler Carmean said. “We put ourselves behind the eight-ball there in the first half and had some lapses on defense. It comes down to fundamentals.
“Credit to Hillsboro, they came out and got up early on us. We did a little better job in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.”
This season the Lady Tigers have already set the girls program record in wins, and Coach Carmean has seen improvement in his team this season.
“We are getting better,” Carmean said. “There is no secret Kerigan (Pollard) is our scorer, everybody knows that this time of the year. Miami Trace had a good game plan to stop her the other day, and I felt Hillsboro did too (Tuesday), to put their two to three fastest girls on her to shadow her, and they did a great job of not letting her get by them.
“They limited her touches and not letting her score. As I’ve said, as Kerigan goes, we go, so this was the first game this year where she hasn’t scored at least three goals. It was one of those games where we got everybody in, and it is back to work tomorrow to get ready to play Washington C.H. on Thursday.”
MHS now stands at 4-3-1 overall and 1-2-1 in the FAC.
Next for the Lady Tigers is a home match on Thursday, Sept. 19 vs. the Washington Blue Lions in FAC action.
The Lady Indians will play again also on Thursday, Sept. 19 at Chillicothe in an FAC contest.
Hillsboro’s Frontier Athletic Conference win began with a strong first half as they built a 4-0 lead. In the second half, they outscored McClain 3-1, scoring the first two goals of the second half, as they had a 6-0 lead with 36:25 left in regulation.
“We had two girls have a brace (two goals in a game) in Sami Blair and Brynn Bledsoe. We had a beautiful set-piece goal by Lexi Sheppard, and we had another goal in the first half by Laila Zugg off a corner kick assisted by Sheppard,” HHS coach Anthony Carson said.
[[In-content Ad]]
“Last night we played against Wilmington, and it was the first game we played all year on turf. Even though we lost last week to Miami Trace, everything cued up, and we are seeing better soccer than we had the previous six games.”
The first-half scoring for the Lady Indians began with a goal at the 32:27 mark when Bledsoe scored a goal while going one-on-one with the keeper of McClain for the 1-0 lead. Next, Bledsoe scored a second goal with 24:47 left in the first half off a shot from 25 yards out for the two-goal advantage.
Hillsboro’s Sheppard made it a three-goal lead with a goal off a free kick (22:13), and the final goal of the first half came with 1:49 on the scoreboard off a 20-yard kick from Zugg.
The second half saw the Lady Indians score goals five and six early on, when Blair scored with 39:09 off a pass from Sheppard for the assist, and the sixth goal came with 36:11 on the clock by Sheppard for he second goal of the match.
“This was a good team win,” Carson said. “We put some players in different positions, and one who stands out is Zugg. Up until this point of the season she’s been a striker, but I had her play midfielder and drop into the defense tonight, and she was a lot more effective for us. That is a big change for a player to do, and she did a great job.”
McClain’s lone goal came with 19:30 left in the match off a kick from Payton Pryor. Hillsboro added one final goal with 15:27 left on the clock when Blair added her second goal of the match.
“It was a little disappointing because I thought we could have hung with them a little better than we did,” McClain coach Tyler Carmean said. “We put ourselves behind the eight-ball there in the first half and had some lapses on defense. It comes down to fundamentals.
“Credit to Hillsboro, they came out and got up early on us. We did a little better job in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.”
This season the Lady Tigers have already set the girls program record in wins, and Coach Carmean has seen improvement in his team this season.
“We are getting better,” Carmean said. “There is no secret Kerigan (Pollard) is our scorer, everybody knows that this time of the year. Miami Trace had a good game plan to stop her the other day, and I felt Hillsboro did too (Tuesday), to put their two to three fastest girls on her to shadow her, and they did a great job of not letting her get by them.
“They limited her touches and not letting her score. As I’ve said, as Kerigan goes, we go, so this was the first game this year where she hasn’t scored at least three goals. It was one of those games where we got everybody in, and it is back to work tomorrow to get ready to play Washington C.H. on Thursday.”
MHS now stands at 4-3-1 overall and 1-2-1 in the FAC.
Next for the Lady Tigers is a home match on Thursday, Sept. 19 vs. the Washington Blue Lions in FAC action.
The Lady Indians will play again also on Thursday, Sept. 19 at Chillicothe in an FAC contest.