Mustangs defense stamps ticket to district finals; LC defeats Valley

KINNIKINNICK — For the past five games, it hasn’t been easy to score a goal on the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs boys soccer team. In fact, nobody has achieved that feat whatsoever, as the fifth game in this stretch saw the Mustangs defeat the No. 6 seeded Valley Indians 2-0 in their Division V SE District Semifinal game at Zane Trace High School, Wednesday.

The No. 3 seeded Mustangs’ win stamped their ticket to the district finals on Saturday, as they will be facing No. 2 seeded South Webster (14-4-1) at 8 p.m. at Zane Trace High School. Wednesday’s victory included a fifth consecutive shutout by the defense of the team that resides at Lynchburg-Clay High School. 

LCHS (14-3-2) had a solid save in the early stages of their semifinal game against Valley with Isaac Eyre making an athletic stop to keep the shutout on the board less than two minutes into the contest. 

Later in the first half, the Mustangs scored their first goal of the game, and the only goal scored in the first half, as sophomore Alexander VanFleet sent the ball past the keeper and defense of Valley for the 1-0 advantage. 

That score stood until halftime, and a big reason was the defense of LCHS, with Elam Faust making a big defensive stop at the 24:10 mark, followed with another save by Eyre with 14:55 on the clock. 

“Isaac Eyre is just a really good goalie,” LCHS head coach Jason West said. “We have three really athletic and quick seniors in front of him with JJ Massey, Jay Cordey and Asher Faust. As far as athletes go, they’ll stack up against anyone that we’re going to come up against. They are playing very composed.

“They’ve figured out when to step and when to hold. We got (Valley) in a couple offside traps in the first half, and the team is just playing mentally solid soccer right now and it’s a pleasure to watch.”

Valley was served a yellow card with 6:10 left in the first half, and the Mustangs kept the score at 1-0 when 40 minutes expired off the clock. 

The Mustangs continued from where they left off at halftime with a diving stop at goal by Eyre, diving to his right on a kick by the Indians for the save with 37:22 left in regulation. 

The defense of the Mustangs made another solid effort play with the group getting the ball away from the net off a Valley corner kick, at around the 36:00 mark, and with 33:49 on the scoreboard, Eyre once again kept the ball out of the net. 

Valley had an indirect kick with 31:45 left to no avail for the Indians, and another corner kick with 11:57 left that was stopped by the Mustangs defense. 

Lynchburg-Clay scored their second and final goal with 5:32 on the scoreboard when freshman Harley Lewis sent the ball past the keeper off a header for the 2-0 score. 

“Our effort on offense tonight with our two goals was we are going to put the ball in the back of the net,” West said. “I can’t say on offense we had any structure or flow whatsoever, but we put the ball to the back of the net, and that’s important.”

The Mustangs are one round better than they were a year ago, losing in ’23 in the district semifinals. 

“Last year when we left here it was a dismal 4-0 loss to Northwest, and there weren’t many kids who would have said they had a good game that day, and there are probably several who would say they didn’t have a good game today,” West said. “But we came away with the victory. Getting this win is a big deal for the school and this group of seniors, and all the boys actually. 

“We have had a lot of success this fall in boys sports with cross-country and golf, and many of them play those sports along with soccer. Some of these guys will be running at regionals on Saturday morning and then playing in the soccer district finals on Saturday night, and they all have a lot to hang their hat on this fall.”

South Webster has allowed one goal in their past five games, outscoring those opponents 34-1 with their one goal allowed coming against Jackson on Oct. 10. The Mustangs’ past five games have seen them outscore their opponents 24-0. 

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