'A Picture of Excellence'
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
SEAMAN — For the third time in the past four seasons, the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs are perfect in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference.
The drive in the final regular-season game to keep the Lady Mustangs undefeated in their past 31 consecutive SHAC games came with a very strong second half, as they took complete control of the final 40 minutes and defeated the host North Adams Lady Green Devils, 4-1.
LC's win on Wednesday moved them to 7-0 in the SHAC for the second straight year, giving the senior class the achievement of not losing a conference match their entire four years of high school.
The seniors for '14 are: Morgan Fittro, Sydney Cromer, Caitlin Davidson, Taylor LIttle, Keanna Oaks, MyKenzie Reynolds and Sam Whitenack.
"This is a great group of seniors who've never lost a game in the SHAC," LC head coach Dennis West said. "They've tied one and won everything else, and they're just an incredible group. They've set a standard for the teams to come, and they have set a great example for the underclassmen. I can't say enough about them. They've just been a picture of excellence down through the years."
In the past four seasons, the LC Lady Mustangs' soccer program has compiled a SHAC record of 27-0-1, not losing in a conference match since the 2010 season against Eastern Brown by a 2-1 score. Following that loss in the 2010 season, LC won their final three conference matches.
Wednesday's regular-season finale win also puts the Division III No. 8 state-ranked Lady Mustangs at 14-1-1 overall on the year.
"It's great for the program," West said of the conference title. "We're getting recognition from other parts of the state. It's been fun to work with them and watch them play.
"They've just gotten to a level where you kind of expect it out of them every time, and that's not fair to them because they're teenagers and sometimes they're tired or have things going on that may take your focus away, but this group just steps up whenever they have to. It's just been an incredible journey with them."
The first goal of the match against North Adams came with 34:28 on the clock as NA scored an own goal, as the keeper of the Lady Green Devils made a block on a corner kick by Sam Whitenack, but her block went into the back of the net for what amounted to a 1-0 lead for LC.
LC took a two-goal advantage with McKayla Binkley scored off a kick from around 20 yards away, past the keeper to the back of the goal with 23:46 left on the first-half clock.
[[In-content Ad]]The drive in the final regular-season game to keep the Lady Mustangs undefeated in their past 31 consecutive SHAC games came with a very strong second half, as they took complete control of the final 40 minutes and defeated the host North Adams Lady Green Devils, 4-1.
LC's win on Wednesday moved them to 7-0 in the SHAC for the second straight year, giving the senior class the achievement of not losing a conference match their entire four years of high school.
The seniors for '14 are: Morgan Fittro, Sydney Cromer, Caitlin Davidson, Taylor LIttle, Keanna Oaks, MyKenzie Reynolds and Sam Whitenack.
"This is a great group of seniors who've never lost a game in the SHAC," LC head coach Dennis West said. "They've tied one and won everything else, and they're just an incredible group. They've set a standard for the teams to come, and they have set a great example for the underclassmen. I can't say enough about them. They've just been a picture of excellence down through the years."
In the past four seasons, the LC Lady Mustangs' soccer program has compiled a SHAC record of 27-0-1, not losing in a conference match since the 2010 season against Eastern Brown by a 2-1 score. Following that loss in the 2010 season, LC won their final three conference matches.
Wednesday's regular-season finale win also puts the Division III No. 8 state-ranked Lady Mustangs at 14-1-1 overall on the year.
"It's great for the program," West said of the conference title. "We're getting recognition from other parts of the state. It's been fun to work with them and watch them play.
"They've just gotten to a level where you kind of expect it out of them every time, and that's not fair to them because they're teenagers and sometimes they're tired or have things going on that may take your focus away, but this group just steps up whenever they have to. It's just been an incredible journey with them."
The first goal of the match against North Adams came with 34:28 on the clock as NA scored an own goal, as the keeper of the Lady Green Devils made a block on a corner kick by Sam Whitenack, but her block went into the back of the net for what amounted to a 1-0 lead for LC.
LC took a two-goal advantage with McKayla Binkley scored off a kick from around 20 yards away, past the keeper to the back of the goal with 23:46 left on the first-half clock.
The shutout of LC went away when the Lady Green Devils scored at the 20:18 mark of the first, but from there, the scoring was all finished for the home team. In the first half, LC out-shot the Lady Green Devils, 12-3.
All the scoring in the second half belonged to the visiting Lady Mustangs as Binkley scored her second goal by taking the ball downfield, beating the defense and kicking the ball from around 10 yards out for a 3-1 lead with 38:24 left in the match.
As LC continued to put pressure on NA, Sydney Cromer scored the final goal of the match and of the LC regular season with 17:01 on the clock as her goal was a short goal off a rebound from a corner kick.
"I kept telling them that North Adams had a solid girls team and that they weren't going to just say 'here, have the victory,'" West said. "I knew that wasn't going to happen. Dave (D'Avignon) has done wonders with this team down here. They've just gotten better and better, and they're a young team that will be bringing a lot of people back next year. They'll be something to contend with for several years.
"Our girls just continue to step up. We're just getting good play from whoever I put out there. I keep saying that, but it's true. Our bench is just so deep that it's difficult sometimes to get everybody in, but we're not playing to one of our strengths if we don't keep rotating people in because we can just wear people down."
This season, LC outscored their SHAC opponents, 59-4 in their seven conference matches, an average of 8.4 goals per game.
The Lady Mustangs have a bit of a wait before their Division III Sectional Final match as they are the No. 1 seed. That match doesn't take place until Saturday, Oct. 18 at 4 p.m. against the winner of No. 8 seeded Southeastern and No. 9 seeded Peebles, who play on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 5 p.m. at SEHS.
Last season, LC reached the Division III Regional Finals for the second time in the history of the girls' program.
This SHAC title was their sixth conference title since '02 and their fourth perfect championship.