Lady Indians rally to tie with Clinton-Massie

It looked a little bleak for the Hillsboro Lady Indians on Tuesday night at their home field as the Clinton-Massie Lady Falcons held a 5-1 lead over them with around 30 minutes left in their South Central Ohio League match.

For the host Lady Indians, though, they still had hope. With an aggressive push on offense and a defense that didn't allow a goal in the final 30 or so minutes of the second half, they managed to not only get back into the game, but force a tie against the defending SCOL champion Lady Falcons, at a 5-5 score.

Hillsboro head coach Jeremy Ratcliff described the match as a tale of not two, but three games for his Lady Indians squad, who are now 1-1-1 overall and 0-1-1 in the league standings early in this season.

"It was a tale of three games, really. We started off calm on the ball, even though we scored first," Ratcliff said. "We knew Clinton-Massie isn't the type of team that will just lie down because they are a good program, tough kids and are well coached.

"We lost some of our composure. Even after giving up two more goals, the girls could have easily given up, but they didn't. I'm super proud they didn't fold and showed a lot of heart, individually and collectively. It is kind of nice seeing some of the things we worked on improve after our last game.

"Things are starting to come together. This is a young team at certain spots, but they are growing as a team."

As for the scoring, though HHS did trail in the first half by a 3-1 score when the first 40 minutes had ticked away, they were also the first team to score in the league match when Mallory Sluss scored the lone first-half goal for the Lady Indians.

That goal was answered with three consecutive goals by the visiting Lady Falcons, giving them the two-goal halftime lead.

Behind by those two goals when the second half began, the scoreboard tilted even more to the side of the visiting Clinton-Massie squad with two more goals to move the score to 5-1.

Following an injury at goal for the Lady Indians, Riley Moberly moved in as the keeper, where she finished with six saves in the 30-minute span.

With the play stopped due to the injury at goal, the Lady Indians regrouped and began their comeback against the Lady Falcons, with Hope Tira scoring consecutive goals with 24:03 and 13:04 left in the second half, bringing HHS to within two goals of tying the score.

The comeback wasn't complete with Callan Myers making it a 5-4 score with a header following a kick of 35-plus yards off the foot of teammate Mallory Sluss with 7:17 left in regulation.

The game-tying score came with 5:32 left on the scoreboard, off a rebound following a save by the CM keeper, and Myers scoring off that rebound, as players collided with each other near the goal.

"Unfortunately, our starting keeper came out injured, and it gave us a break in the action at that point. The girls had a chance to refocus and start pressuring the ball more," Ratcliff said. "They started to not allow the Massie players to dictate the action.

"We moved on the ball better, started to create angles and opportunities. Soccer is a game of momentum."

HHS had other opportunities to take the lead in the final minutes, but they were just off target, as were the final goal attempts by CM. Moberly made maybe the best save of the match, keeping the score tied at five with 44 seconds on the clock as CM pressured the defense of the Lady Indians.

"Riley was sitting on the bench in the second half, and within 30 seconds she in the game as the keeper, and it is ‘oh, by the way, it is 5-1, good luck to you,’” Ratcliff said. "I can't even say how proud I am of her and the job she did. She was calm and composed, saved our defense a lot of running by being aggressive and was able to shut them down.

"The save on the right side was a huge save … a huge save for us. For a sophomore to come into that situation, I thought she did a tremendous job."

With assists for HHS were Sluss and Madison Marsh, as HHS finished the SCOL match with seven shots on goal.

"I told the girls this isn't just a big game because it is against Clinton-Massie, but because it is a league game, and every league game is big," Ratcliff said. "You shouldn't play anxious or scared, but you should play focused.

"At times we did play scared and not focused in (Tuesday), but when we did play with focus and confidence, that is when we played our best soccer."