Lady Indians soccer defeats Miami Trace; moves on to sectional finals
The Hillsboro Lady Indians are moving on in the 2016 Division II SE District Sectional round of the postseason. They are doing so by defeating league rival Miami Trace, 4-0 Tuesday at Hillsboro High School.
The match between the two South Central Ohio League counterparts saw the Lady Indians score one goal in the first half for a 1-0 advantage after 40 minutes of play.
That goal came from senior Lillian Van Zant with 18:36 left in the first half, with the assist from Callan Myers, as Van Zant kicked the ball into the right side of the net.
As for the entire first half, HHS (11-4-2) had five corner kick opportunities, while MT had one. Also in the first half, HHS totaled 14 shots, but just three shots on goal. Miami Trace had one corner kick chance in the first half.
Van Zant continued the scoring for HHS in the second half with her second goal of the match, with 23:48 left in regulation.
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“Lillian’s two goals were huge for her,”HHS head coach Jeremy Ratcliff said. “I’ve been pushing the mid-fielders to get more involved offensively. I don’t want teams to focus on just our two forwards but have them be forced to focus on our mid-fielders. That was nice to see.”
Ratcliff spoke about how his team played in each half.
“We did a nice job of controlling possession in the first half. We had a lot of opportunities, but we didn’t put many of them on goal,” Ratcliff said. “We still had a lot of opportunities at open shots, but we did a better job of capitalizing on those in the second half. All in all, I was pleased with how we played. We just got the shots to fall in the second half.
“At times I was happy with our effort, but at times we were a little lax. Miami Trace is a team that I don’t care what their record is, they are physical, play hard and compete. I have a lot of respect for those kids because they come out and compete. At times our kids did that, but we have to play a full 80 minutes, because the games from here on out won’t be any easier.”
Next for the Lady Indians was a goal from senior Hope Tira with 11:31 on the clock. Hillsboro’s final goal came with 18 seconds remaining from junior Natalie Sullivan.
For the match, the Lady Indians totaled 11 corner kicks, 21 shots and 13 shots at goal. Junior keeper Riley Moberly finished with four saves in the shutout.
Next for the Lady Indians is a sectional final match at Chillicothe against the Chillicothe Lady Cavaliers. CHS won the SCOL championship this season, with HHS finishing second in the league by a half game.
This season the Lady Indians won their first meeting against the Lady Cavs at 5-3 in Hillsboro, and Chillicothe won the second meeting by a 3-2 score at their home field.
“It is 1-1 against them this year, and this is Round 3,” Ratcliff said. “We know what they are bringing. They are a technically skilled team, it is at their place and it should be a battle.”