Lady Tigers, Lady Lions play to a draw

It was another county rivalry game Monday night in Greenfield when the McClain Lady Tigers hosted the Fairfield Lady Lions, and when the final horn sounded, the game ended in a hard-fought 2-2 tie.

Both teams left it all on the field, and both teams had several chances to win in the second half, but defense was really the name of the game on this night.

Kenzie Wise was superb at the net for McClain, giving up just the two goals. Fairfield’s freshman goalkeeper Meri Jackson, who started the game but was injured in the first half, and Claire Newkirk, the regular starter, were just as good, giving up only two scores as well.

“This was a hard-fought game, and Fairfield is a really good team who are the number-two seed in Division III Southeast District,” McClain head coach Blain Bergstrom said. “We knew coming in it would be a tough test for us, but I thought after giving up an early goal, we fought back and scored two before the half ended to take a 2-1 lead.”

Fairfield scored the first goal of the match when freshman Emerson Zink found the back of the net at the 20:16 mark and was the benefit of a great assist by another freshman, Vivian Henninger.

McClain’s senior leader Luca Matesic tied the game with 8:10 showing on the first-period clock with a goal from an impressive assist by Addison Olaker.

The Lady Tigers grabbed a 2-1 lead just before the halftime horn sounded with just 40 seconds remaining when Bailey Parson scored a goal from an unbelievable corner kick.

Fairfield tied the score at 2-2 just seconds into the second half on a header goal by Kennedy Zink at the 39:07 mark, as  it was also the benefit of a great corner kick throw in by Faith Donley.

“Faith (Donley) took the corner and placed a great ball there to Kennedy (Zink), who was in the right spot and got a head on it,” Fairfield head coach Jacob Alexander said.

That would be the only goal of the second half, and for the next 39-plus minutes, both teams continued to play hard but were unable to score another goal to win.

“In the second half, we gave up another goal early, but after that held on for the next 39 minutes and nobody was able to score,” said Bergstrom. “Just a hard-fought game. All the way around both offensively and defensively I thought we created several opportunities, especially in the first half where I thought we had more chances.

“They put a lot of pressure on us in the second half, but our defense held tight, and I thought Kenzie (Wise) did a great job in goal.

“This game should give our girls some confidence for the tournament,” Bergstrom continued. “Playing a really good team and fighting with them to the end hopefully will really help our girls moving forward.”

It was not the result the Fairfield coaching staff wanted, but they were still encouraged by how hard their girls played.

“It’s always fun when you play in a county rivalry game and this one was one that we needed to step up in a couple of areas,” Alexander said. “I thought we did show improvement as the game went on, but we still have some work to do before tournament.

“Credit to Greenfield, they played a really good game. They took advantage of their opportunities when they scored on that corner kick and that run down the sidelines, so give them credit for that.

“This wasn’t the cleanest game we’ve played by far, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

The Lady Tigers (7-4-3) were scheduled to play at Peebles on Tuesday, Oct. 10 before returning home to play Westfall on Wednesday, Oct. 11 for senior night.

The Lady Lions were scheduled to play Southeastern on Wednesday, Oct. 11, then travel to Jackson on Thursday, Oct. 12, before returning home on Saturday, Oct. 14 to host Zane Trace.