Lynchburg-Clay soccer shuts out Hillsboro
DODSONVILLE — Two teams from Highland County battled on Monday to start the week with the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs keeping the Hillsboro Indians from scoring a goal, while scoring three of their own for a 3-0 non-conference victory at LCHS.
The Mustangs (6-1-1) scored the only goal of the first half, with senior Kyle Luneke sending the ball into the back of the net unassisted for the 1-0 advantage at the 32:39 mark of the first half. Luneke’s goal was his 13th of the season.
As the first half continued, the Indians' offense put pressure on the Mustangs, but each shot by the Indians seemed to sail over in multiple directions. The defense of LC was on their game by making a save when keeper Blake Croy dove onto the ground to make the stop, plus the defense of the Mustangs chipped in as well.
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LC’s Croy again kept the Mustangs in front with a save in the first half at the 1:14 mark.
In the second half, the Indians (5-5) again were off target with chances at goals around the 30-minute mark, as were the Mustangs a couple minutes later. LC’s defense kept their team in front by a single goal with yet another big stand around the 25:25 mark of the second half, and then the offense finally was on target twice more for the eventual three-goal win.
“Like with the girls, the boys game between Hillsboro and us is a great rivalry, and the same thing happened in this game too where we played well the first 20 minutes in the first half, then they took over in the final 20 minutes of the half," LC head coach Dennis West said. "We were fortunate to have a one-goal lead in the first half.
“Our defense did a good job. Blake Croy at keeper had stop after stop, and the defense really helped him out too."
Lynchburg-Clay took a two-goal advantage with 22:17 on the clock as senior Austin Hilt scored on a header near the front of the net off a corner kick precisely placed by junior Chris Young.
For good measure, LC added one more goal to their lead with Hilt scoring his second goal with the assist from Mason Barrett off a pass. Hilt’s goal sailed around 25-35 yards into the net. Hilt now has nine goals this season.
“Our seniors got us our scoring with Austin (Hilt) and Kyle (Luneke) being two of the top scorers in the Southeast District," West said. "We depend on them for scoring. It takes an entire team to win in soccer, and in both games with the boys and girls, that is what we got.”
In the loss, the Mustangs outshot the Indians, 21-10. At goal for the Indians, Joe Rudy finished with nine saves. LC keeper Croy finished with 10 saves.
“We had opportunities to score goals but we just couldn’t put them on frame or in the net,” HHS head coach John Weber said. “We just couldn’t put any in the back of the net. Overall, I like our passing and our defense at times. We played with them and played solid against a good Lynchburg-Clay squad. Our problem was we just couldn’t finish.
“I’m very happy with our performance, and if we could have just put the ball into the back of the net, I think that puts us over the edge and changes the ball game entirely. Lynchburg-Clay played an excellent game, and hats off to them. That quick goal put us behind, and that took the wind out of our sails the first 15 to 20 minutes, but we buckled down and played much better after that.”
Next for the Indians is another Highland County matchup, this time with the McClain Tigers in Frontier Athletic Conference action at MHS.
Last week, the Mustangs defeated West Union, 11-1 in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play, and on Saturday in a makeup game, LC tied with the Western Brown Broncos, 2-2 in a non-conference match.
In the win on Friday at West Union, goals were scored by Luneke with four goals, three goals from Barrett and three goals by Hilt. The 11th goal for LC was an own goal by West Union.
On Saturday vs. Western Brown, the Mustangs had goals from Chris Young and Hilt.
The Mustangs play again on Thursday, Sept. 21 at Wilmington in non-conference play.