Defense sends Lady Mustangs to regional finals

CARROLL — If defense wins championships, then the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs are using the correct formula this postseason.

For the Lady Mustangs, they used their defensive prowess for all of their 80-minute match against Bishop Rosecrans, and in turn earned their second consecutive berth in the Division III Regional Finals, winning on Tuesday evening by a 2-0 score.

The win at Bloom-Carroll High School (at Carl Fell Stadium) moves the Lady Mustangs to 18 wins on the season, along with the Lady Mustangs now keeping their postseason opponents scoreless for 320 minutes with four shutouts thus far this postseason.

"We identified Darby Lynch (the leading scorer of BRHS), who had 28 goals and 16 assists, and we put our best defensive individuals on her," LC head coach Dennis West said. "Those girls were Angela McLaughlin and Lexi Waits, and they really did a nice job of keeping her away from the goal.

"We kept her to two shots on the night, and those were from 18 yards out and 40 yards away. Again, our defense starts in the mid-field and goes to the flat four we have back there. Those girls do a tremendous job."

Last season, it was LC who knocked Bishop Rosecrans out of the postseason in the district final by a 1-0 score.

On Tuesday night, it was a goal from senior Sydney Cromer that broke the scoreless tie with 23:08 left in the first half, as her goal was one of pure determination, mixed with skill.

The goal nearly halfway into the match started with a corner kick from senior Sam Whitenack, followed by a header by Ali Little, which went to Cromer. From there, Cromer took a chance for a goal, but it was knocked down by the keeper of Bishop Rosecrans.

From there, Cromer knocked the rebound past the keeper near the right corner of the goal to put the Lady Mustangs ahead by one goal.

"The goal by Sydney was her being tenacious and just going after the ball until she got it in the net," West said.

The second LC goal came near the goal from senior Morgan Fittro with 22:50 left in the second half.

"At halftime, we talked about following up shots, and we knew their keeper tended to knock the ball down, rather than let it come to her. When she knocked it down, Morgan was right there. We've been talking about crashing the goal on shots, and she did that there."

Now for the defense, as LC never let Bishop Rosecrans gain any one-on-one opportunities, and for the match allowed just a total of seven shots at goal, with just three in the second half.

LC out-shot their opponent, 20-7.

In the first half, LC really put the offensive pressure on BRHS in the first 10 minutes of the match, but never got many shots at goal off. With the game getting more physical as the seconds ticked away, it was LC keeper Bailey Leininger who made the defense stand out with a good save with 31:25 left in the first half.

After the first LC goal, the defense of the Lady Mustangs really took control by not allowing many shots, and Leininger kept LC out front with a save at goal off a 30-yard kick by BRHS.

With a one-goal lead, the LC defense continued to keep Bishop Rosecrans at bay, including MyKenzie Reynolds, Alexa Cochran, McLaughlin, Chelsi Hacker, Little, Waits and Cromer all making timely stops and defensive plays.

Keanna Oaks also came up big by knocking the ball away from BRHS as they were trying to gain some offensive momentum with 30 minutes left in the match.

"We count on all of those girls on defense, and they have not disappointed, especially in this tournament run," West said. "They have just been outstanding by really pressuring the opponents' offense."

The Lady Mustangs continued to play tough on defense, and they upped their offensive pressure late, but were unable to add to their two-goal advantage.

LC's last big save to keep the shutout came with 6:59 left in the match by Leininger, as she finished with five saves.

The two-goal win puts the Lady Mustangs one win away from the Division III State Final Four. LC will now face Hamilton Badin in the regional finals on Saturday (time, location TBA).