McClain Lady Tigers rally to tie Hillsboro Lady Indians
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — The Frontier Athletic Conference match between the visiting McClain squad and the host Hillsboro Lady Indians seemed grim for the Lady Tigers as they trailed the Lady Indians by a 3-0 score in the early stages of the second half.
The great thing about sports though is the game is never over until the final buzzer sounds, and for the Lady Tigers. they left the home of HHS without a loss. Rather, they rallied to tie the score at 3-3, scoring the game-tying goal with 39 seconds left off a kick from Kerigan Pollard.
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In fact, the Lady Tigers scored three unanswered goals in the final 30 minutes of play in the FAC contest, resulting in not only a tie, but that final tied score was the first time in program history the Lady Tigers hadn’t suffered a loss to their Highland County rival since the MHS program’s inception in 2007, snapping a 25-game (2007-19) losing streak to the Lady Indians.
This season is also the best win-loss-tie season in program history for the Lady Tigers as well, as they are now 6-5-2 overall and 3-4-2 in the FAC standings, also a program-best.
“It is always good to get a result against a team like Hillsboro,” McClain head coach Tyler Carmean said. “Their record is a little deceiving because their non-conference schedule has been tough, so to fall down 2-0 at halftime and then give up a quick one in the second half, to battle back is great to see.
“That is what these girls do. They give me 80 minutes day-in and day-out, and then you have a scorer like Kerigan, you wear them down and you pick your spots, and I thought we did a good job with that tonight. These girls are competitors, they want to win and have a fighting spirit.”
Earlier this season Hillsboro won against McClain by a 7-1 score at McClain Field.
On Thursday night, it was Hillsboro who scored their two goals in the first half as Jessica Howland put the ball in the back of the goal first for the Lady Indians 10 minutes into the first half for a 1-0 lead with the assist from Alexia Sheppard. Next came Hillsboro’s second goal with around 23:00 left in the first half, this one by Bre Karnes with the assist by Gracey Dearmon.
That was all the scoring in the first half, but in the second half HHS added to their lead with a second goal by Karnes for a 3-0 lead.
That lead didn’t stand for the Lady Indians though as the Lady Tigers continued to battle back with a penalty kick goal by Kerigan Pollard with 30:27 on the clock for the first MHS goal of the match. Next came a second goal by Pollard with 20:39 remaining in the FAC match.
That score stood until the final minute of the conference match, but Pollard and her teammates weren’t finished just quite yet.
The Lady Tigers regained possession of the ball, and following a toss by Beckley Smith, the ball landed near Pollard, who took the ball past and around a couple Hillsboro defenders, switching directions, then kicking the ball past the keeper for the game-tying goal for the Lady Tigers with 46 seconds left in the match.
“That is one of the benefits of having a softball third baseman on your team (Smith), and she’s a senior. Beckley threw it over the top, and give Kerigan credit too, she worked with it and went three different directions, kept them guessing and put it in,” Carmean said. “That is what she does. She has 42 goals this season, and she has a knack for finding the back of the net.”
Neither team scored again, leaving the match at a 3-3 tie.
Next for McClain is a FAC match on Saturday, Oct. 5 at Chillicothe.
The great thing about sports though is the game is never over until the final buzzer sounds, and for the Lady Tigers. they left the home of HHS without a loss. Rather, they rallied to tie the score at 3-3, scoring the game-tying goal with 39 seconds left off a kick from Kerigan Pollard.
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In fact, the Lady Tigers scored three unanswered goals in the final 30 minutes of play in the FAC contest, resulting in not only a tie, but that final tied score was the first time in program history the Lady Tigers hadn’t suffered a loss to their Highland County rival since the MHS program’s inception in 2007, snapping a 25-game (2007-19) losing streak to the Lady Indians.
This season is also the best win-loss-tie season in program history for the Lady Tigers as well, as they are now 6-5-2 overall and 3-4-2 in the FAC standings, also a program-best.
“It is always good to get a result against a team like Hillsboro,” McClain head coach Tyler Carmean said. “Their record is a little deceiving because their non-conference schedule has been tough, so to fall down 2-0 at halftime and then give up a quick one in the second half, to battle back is great to see.
“That is what these girls do. They give me 80 minutes day-in and day-out, and then you have a scorer like Kerigan, you wear them down and you pick your spots, and I thought we did a good job with that tonight. These girls are competitors, they want to win and have a fighting spirit.”
Earlier this season Hillsboro won against McClain by a 7-1 score at McClain Field.
On Thursday night, it was Hillsboro who scored their two goals in the first half as Jessica Howland put the ball in the back of the goal first for the Lady Indians 10 minutes into the first half for a 1-0 lead with the assist from Alexia Sheppard. Next came Hillsboro’s second goal with around 23:00 left in the first half, this one by Bre Karnes with the assist by Gracey Dearmon.
That was all the scoring in the first half, but in the second half HHS added to their lead with a second goal by Karnes for a 3-0 lead.
That lead didn’t stand for the Lady Indians though as the Lady Tigers continued to battle back with a penalty kick goal by Kerigan Pollard with 30:27 on the clock for the first MHS goal of the match. Next came a second goal by Pollard with 20:39 remaining in the FAC match.
That score stood until the final minute of the conference match, but Pollard and her teammates weren’t finished just quite yet.
The Lady Tigers regained possession of the ball, and following a toss by Beckley Smith, the ball landed near Pollard, who took the ball past and around a couple Hillsboro defenders, switching directions, then kicking the ball past the keeper for the game-tying goal for the Lady Tigers with 46 seconds left in the match.
“That is one of the benefits of having a softball third baseman on your team (Smith), and she’s a senior. Beckley threw it over the top, and give Kerigan credit too, she worked with it and went three different directions, kept them guessing and put it in,” Carmean said. “That is what she does. She has 42 goals this season, and she has a knack for finding the back of the net.”
Neither team scored again, leaving the match at a 3-3 tie.
Next for McClain is a FAC match on Saturday, Oct. 5 at Chillicothe.