Lady Tigers shut out Hillsboro

The McClain Lady Tigers varsity soccer team notched their second straight home victory and second straight shutout, this one a 5-0 victory over county and conference rival Hillsboro.

McClain played one of their best halves of the season, scoring five first-period goals to take a commanding 5-0 advantage at the break over a very good Hillsboro team that had defeated league favorite Chillicothe a couple of games earlier.

Luca Matesic got the scoring started with an unassisted goal at the 37:44 mark of the first half, followed by a goal by freshman Paisley Pryor with 24:23 remaining in the half.

McClain got an own goal moments later for a 3-0 lead, followed by two more scores by Pryor down the stretch, giving her the hat trick and McClain a 5-0 advantage, which is how the game would end. Both had several opportunities to score in the second half, but neither was able to find the back of the net.

McClain goalkeeper was impressive for a second straight game by not allowing anyone to score.

“I thought our keeper, Kenzi Wise, played an exceptional game in the back,” McClain head coach Blain Bergstrom said. “She came out when she needed to, made saves when she needed to, and our defense was solid and helped out. Any time you can shut out, a team it’s always good.

“Our kids came out really focused tonight, and the intensity was there for us. We passed the ball much better than we have in the past and made some plays. We played aggressively and attacked the goal and good things always happen when you can do that.”

Hillsboro head coach Amanda Miller was at a loss for words after the disappointing defeat to their county rival.

“This was very disappointing after coming off the big win over Chillicothe two games ago,” said Miller. “We have seven seniors, and I tried playing a lot of people in different positions tonight because we were down one starter and have a few injuries going on.

“We have a great group of girls, and I couldn’t ask for a better bunch, but trying to stay focused and being consistent every single day has been hard for us. I thought we did step up and play better in the second half, and our senior Maddy Hollen had a great all-around game winning all of the 50-50 balls on defense for us.”

The Lady Tigers host Jackson Thursday, Sept. 21 with a 5 p.m. start. Hillsboro travels to Washington Thursday, also with a 5 p.m. start time.