Lynchburg-Clay ends season as regional runners-up

CHILLICOTHE — The finale of the 2023 Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs season came Saturday afternoon when they lost for the first time this season, dropping their Division III Regional Final game to the reigning Div. III state champions, the Cincinnati Country Day School Lady Nighthawks, 6-0 at Herrnstein Field.

The Nighthawks — who are now 20-2-0 overall — kept their shutout streak going against LCHS on Saturday, as they’ve now held all five of their postseason opponents scoreless in ’23, outscoring their opponents, 32-0.

“They (CCD) were state champions last year, and Coach [Theresa] Hirschauer said that they didn’t expect that last year,” LC head coach Dennis West said. “They expected it this year with the 13 seniors that they’ve got on that roster. They’re good — big, strong, fast and technically unbelievable. They’re just good.”

West spoke about his team as well.

“The girls overachieved all year. They played a good schedule, had good results, they were resilient,” West said. “I know they’re disappointed with this showing, but hey, you run into teams like every once in a while. You live and learn and get better and use the experience in getting better.

“When you get down to that final eight, I don’t know what else we could do. It’s tough to get into that final four. We did it last year, but it’s tough to get back there, unless you’re one of the very, very, very, very elite schools.”

LCHS came into the game also having four straight postseason games keeping their opponents scoreless, and a streak of six straight games of keeping their opponents scoreless.

The game on Saturday was their first time LCHS had allowed six goals in a game since at least the 2007 season. CCD is also the team that eliminated the Lady Mustangs last season from the postseason, with LCHS falling 4-0 in the 2022 Division III State Semifinals.

All of that said, LCHS finishes the season as Southern Hills Athletic Conference champions, SE District champions and regional runners-up, ending the ‘23 season with a 15-1-4 overall record. In SHAC play this season, LCHS finished 5-0-1 in the conference standings.

In ‘23, the Lady Mustangs outscored their opponents, 77-13 (including the postseason), and saw senior Jade Massey score 41 goals and tally nine assists as she was named the ’23 SE District Player of the Year. In her four-year varsity career, Massey finished with 82 goals.

Also in ’23, LCHS was led in assists by junior Aubrey Slack with 10.

During the postseason, LCHS defeated Chesapeake (11-0), Alexander (5-0), North Adams (2-0) and Fairfield (1-0).

As for Saturday, Cincinnati Country Day School scored their first goal of the game with a goal from Elizabeth Zimmerman on a header, following a save by LC keeper Caitlyn Collins, but the ball bounced and ricocheted off her on the save, and Zimmerman was there with the header for the 1-0 CCD lead.

The second goal by CCD was also from Zimmerman, who at the 22:57 mark scored the goal on a sliding kick for the two-goal advantage.

Following some saves by Collins at goal as CCD had heavy pressure on LCHS, a third goal was scored by the top-ranked team in the state, as Piper Farris of the Nighthawks put CCD ahead 3-0 with 13:48 left in the first half.

CCD scored a fourth goal in the first half as Kendall Weber made the score 4-0 with a header off a rebound following a save by Collins, with 1:44 left on the first-half clock.

As the score stood as a four-goal lead for the Nighthawks as the second half began, it wasn’t long until the CCD lead increased to five goals as Zimmerman gained a hat trick with 38:55 left in regulation for a 5-0 advantage.

The Nighthawks scored one last goal with 34:57 on the scoreboard in Chillicothe with Zimmerman scoring her fourth goal of the regional final, leaving the score at 6-0, as that score stayed until the game ended.

LCHS finished with one shot, while CCD totaled 15 shots at goal. Collins totaled nine saves for Lynchburg-Clay in the loss.

Seniors for the Lady Mustangs are: Lainie Lunsford, Jade Massey, Brya McClain, Zoe McLean, Samantha Merry and Autumn Wilkin.

“We’ve got a good group, I think about 17 of them, coming back next year. Hopefully we pick up three or four freshmen to help us out. We’ve got a good core group coming back, but we’re going to miss the seniors, I can guarantee you that,” West said. “We had a group of six that just really made this year fun, and the whole group made this whole year fun.

“They were a close-knit group, no problems. It was just a good group of girls that just made it fun to come to practice, come to games. You knew that you were going to get a really good effort out of them. That’s what we told them out there after the game, that they just were outstanding.”

BOX SCORE
LCHS    0 0 — 0
CCDS    4 2 — 6