100 consecutive SHAC games without a loss: Lynchburg-Clay wins at Eastern 

MACON — Almost 15 years in the making, the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs soccer program hit a historical milestone by gaining a 2-1 win over the host Eastern Lady Warriors on Monday evening, and in the process they’ve gone 100 consecutive games without a loss in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play. 

The one-goal win on Monday at EHS by the Lady Mustangs gave them a 93-0-7 record in their past 100 SHAC games, extending their streak that began on Sept. 30, 2010, which was a 4-0 win over North Adams. LC’s last loss in conference play was against Eastern in 2010 by a 2-1 score. 

Since then, LCHS had had nine 7-0 seasons in SHAC play, three 6-0-1 seasons, one 5-0-1 season, one 2-0-3 season, and the year the streak began (2010) the Lady Mustangs won their final three conference games for the current mark of 100 games without a conference loss as they have a 2-0 mark in SHAC play thus far in ’25. 

LC head coach Dennis West has been at the helm of all 100 games of the SHAC no-loss streak, and he spoke about “how special” the achievement is for the Lady Mustangs’ program. 

“It is just a statement about the kids that I have had,” West said. “Some of them are well past being kids anymore when this streak started. We had no idea it would last this long, but we just had girls after girls just come through the program and just have and still have a long run of quality kids who just come out and compete hard every match.

“Sometimes we’ll take out lumps outside of the league because of the schedule we try to get. We try to challenge ourselves, and we have played some outstanding programs through the years in the SHAC, and Eastern is always one of them. 

“It was kind of special to get No. 100 on this field because we never know how to be like down here (at Eastern),” West continued. “It is just a special place. I was thinking about it. I wasn’t trying to think about it, but I was thinking about this game all day long, the significance of it and just playing here, especially.”

West continued to talk about the achievement of his soccer program.

“We told the girls you are a part of something that started in 2010 and almost 15 years, you are a part of it and all of the kids through the years,” he said. “I was telling mainly our freshmen that we have others there who have never lost a league game, and it is special. 

“I don’t know if there has ever been a SHAC team that made this kind of run in any sport. I don’t know, but it is a long run. It is really special, but outside of our program maybe nobody thinks much about it, but we always tell the girls at the beginning of every year that you are a part of something very special, and we want you to know it and we want you to work hard to make sure that continues for as long as we can.”

In Monday’s win, the Lady Mustangs trailed by a 1-0 score following an Eastern penalty kick by Addalynn Perkins with 2:07 left in the first half. 

Lynchburg-Clay didn’t trail for long, as Sophia Michael, with the assist from Lily Ferguson, kicked the ball past the keeper on a 20-plus yard kick as the ball landed in the left corner of the net with 11 seconds left in the opening half, tying the score at 1-1. 

LCHS took the lead for good in the second half when a long kick by Ferguson pushed them into a 2-1 lead with 34:13 left on the clock with the assist by Lizzie Hall.

“With 11 seconds to go … Sophia works hard and we do not expect her to take those shots, but she took that thing tonight, confident, put that ball in the far corner and that was a momentum changer right there to give us a goal with 11 seconds to go,” West said. “That was a big momentum changer for us. 

“Lily, we are just trying to get her to be more offensively oriented. She had a strong leg, and I watched her play growing up, playing with my granddaughter, and she was always quick and aggressive. She didn’t play last year, but we are glad she came back out this year because she is a quality player, and she’s certainly going to help us down through this year. It was an outstanding shot.” 

The game wasn’t just the three combined goals that were scored, because the defense of both teams were strong, as the Lady Mustangs’ defense made many timely and clutch stops, especially under pressure in the second half. 

When the score was tied at 1-1, Lynchburg-Clay had an early stop by the defense in the second half and after gaining the lead, the LCHS continued to stifle the Lady Warriors’ attempts at tying the score with various stops near the net. One of the more impressive stops was keeper Caitlyn Collins making a running one-handed stop on an Eastern shot with 16:48 left in regulation. 

LC keeper made one final big stop as Eastern went to tie the score, once again, late in the contest, but Collins made a sliding stop, getting the ball away from the net with 2:30 on the second half clock. 

Collins for LCHS finished with 10 saves in the victory. 

“Our defense was outrageous,” West said. “We played six girls back there, and Lily Layne and Addie Cordrey are the heart of that back line. This is only Addie’s second time in that back line. We moved some people around to get a little more speed in our back four, and then everybody playing on the outside is a first-year player. We have Kami Collins, who is a first-year senior, and she’s been starting with us for most of the year. The other side is being manned by true freshmen, and everybody we played back there tonight did an outstanding job.

“This was just a great team win. We are still a project in motion and development, but these kind of wins work well toward getting us to where we want to be.”

The win improves Lynchburg-Clay to 2-0-0 in the SHAC this season, with an overall record of 3-2-0. Eastern falls to 1-3-0 overall and 1-1-0 in SHAC play. 

Next for the Lady Mustangs (2-0, 3-2) is a SHAC game on Wednesday, Aug. 27 at home against the Ripley Lady Blue Jays at 6:30 p.m. 

BOX SCORE
LCHS    1 1 — 2
EHS      1 0 — 1