Minford overtime goal ends Lynchburg-Clay’s season in district semifinals 

HILLSBORO — All it took was one goal by the Minford Lady Falcons in overtime Tuesday evening for the 2026 season of the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs to end in the Division V SE District Semifinals. 

The game played at Hillsboro High School was a battle between two teams whose defense wouldn’t and didn’t give up a goal in the 80 minutes of regulation play, as the scoreboard read all zeroes when time expired in the second half. 

In overtime, around the 10-minute mark, the No. 2 seeded Lady Falcons gained the win over the No. 7 seeded Lady Mustangs with a short kick by junior Makenna Enz off a deflection and a bounce of the ball near the goal to seal the win for Minford, moving them to the district finals on Thursday. 

“I thought we played well,” Lynchburg-Clay head coach Dennis West said. “We started the season out with Minford, tied them (2-2) down at their place, and tonight we played well, we just could not get anything going. We missed a heck of an opportunity in the first half, when the keeper came out, and we just didn’t put the ball into frame.

“Our defense was outstanding. I told the girls at halftime, this is the kind of game where one mistake decides the match, and we hadn't given them a corner up until that last sequence there, and we almost gave them two in a row. You cannot give good teams opportunities. We did, and they capitalized on it. Congratulations to Shane Tieman (Minford’s head coach) and his team, they are loaded.”

For the match, the Lady Mustangs (7-10-2) had five total shots, three in the first half, while Minford had seven shots in the match with three in the first half.

The first 40 minutes of the match was played to a scoreless tie when halftime arrived as each team had their chances to take a lead, but were unsuccessful either due to off-target shots or strong defense by their opponent. 

LC senior keeper Savannah Bell had some big saves in the first half with a sliding stop early on, and later it was Minford doing the same thing with a timely stop at goal around the 27:00 mark by senior keeper Addison Lemon, who totaled four saves in the match. 

Still in the first half, the Lady Mustangs had a chance at a goal, with the goal unattended, but the shot was too wide off a kick from around 20-25 yards out. 

As the first half continued, the pressure was put on by the offense of Minford, but LC’s defense stood up to the challenge with the score being 0-0 when the first half buzzer sounded. 

The defense of the Lady Mustangs continued to battle with Minford as sophomore Brystal McClain and senior Addie Cordrey made some defensive stops that kept Minford from gaining momentum near the goal. 

Bell had another save with 13:20 left in regulation, and even as the pressure was continued by the Minford offense, the defense of Lynchburg-Clay continued to fend off the Lady Falcons with around 10:00 left in regulation. 

With 9:49 left, LCHS received their first of two yellow cards late in the match, and later the Lady Falcons tried to score a goal on a header, but that shot went wide as well with 9:35 remaining on the second-half clock. 

With time winding down, the Lady Mustangs’ defense kept battling the defense of Minford, and even with a second yellow card given to LCHS with 1:47 left in the match, it did no harm for LCHS, as time expired in the second half, and the two teams went to overtime. 

Minford had a corner kick opportunity with 9:48 in the overtime period, but Bell kept LCHS in the match with another save, but then came the lone goal of the match as previously mentioned with the short kick off the bounce, leading to the end of the semifinal contest. 

Seniors for the Lady Mustangs are Baylee McClain, Savannah Bell, Caraline West, Addie Cordrey and Willow Smith.

“Our five seniors this year just did outstanding,” West said. “Savannah Bell in goal, she started about halfway through the season, and we struggled because we had young people in there, and Savannah had some experience in there, and she’s athletic, so that worked out well for us. 

“Addie Cordrey, Willow Smith, Baylee McClain and Caraline West, all of them contributed all four years, and they just kept getting better and better.” 

West spoke about how injuries affected the Lady Mustangs this season. 

“In 28 years of coaching, I have never had this many injuries,” he said. “We only had all 25 girls healthy for two games this entire year, and it seemed like we would get somebody back, and we would lose one or two. We have three girls right now who still aren’t clear, and we have one that was injured halfway through the season, and others from about three to four weeks ago. 

“The girls persevered. We kept moving people around, trying to cover for injuries, and that’s tough when you have to do that. You don’t get much of anything going smoothly. I am proud of the way they played, but it was a tough year.”

This season for LCHS, their goals leader was junior Lily Ferguson with 13, and the assists leader was Cordrey with five. Bell led LCHS with 55 saves. 

“We have 20 coming back and a good group coming out of the eighth grade so we will see how it goes,” West said of next season. 

Coach West also had some gratitude to extend to his coaching staff and others who are involved with the team.

“All three coaches are all former players, two of them were All-Ohio players, and my varsity assistant is Shelby Chisman, and she played for me on the first Final Four team. Angela (McLaughlin) Tira is a varsity assistant, and she also played on that team. 

“Our goalie coach/JV coach is Caitlyn Collins, and she was our keeper the last four years. All three were unbelievable players and are excellent coaches, and the kids love them. I appreciate the effort and time they put in. All three have full-time jobs, and they still give me a ton of time and expertise, and I rely on them more and more every game of the year. They are a great group, and a humongous amount of our success goes back to the three of them. They are outstanding, and hopefully someday they will be doing this instead of me.”

West continued with his thanking of those involved in the program.

“Denise Bain (our athletic trainer) … we about wore her out this year, taping people up, getting updates on injuries,” West said. “It was a never-ending process this year. A lot of these girls, the first thing they want to know is if Denise is going to be here and when she will be here. We’ve relied more on her this year than ever, and she is great to work with. She does a great job of getting the kids back on the field. 

“Also, our AD (Athletic Director) Mark Faust has done wonderful things with all the things we’ve had to battle through this year with changes of venue because our field wasn’t playable (weather related) and the scheduling. He really works hard for us and does a great job. We even had to reschedule a game because it was too hot. It has just been a strange year just from any aspect you want to look at, but we’ll be back. We’ll work hard and get back.”