The McClain Tigers soccer teams hosted Lynchburg-Clay high school on Wednesday night in a cross-county showdown. At the end of the night, each school had come away with a win as in game one, the Lady Mustangs were victorious and in game two, the McClain boys brought home a hard-fought win against the Mustangs.
The Lady Mustangs came into the game as the no. 10 team in the state at Division III according to the most recent polls. On the other side of the field, the Lady Tigers were playing without their leading scorer, Taylor Polley. The Lady Mustangs started off sluggish, but were able to keep McClain from scoring and netted eight goals of their own on the way to the 8-0 victory.
“Our girls did not play a very good first half,” said Lynchburg Head Coach Dennis West after the game. “Our effort just wasn’t there in any way, shape or form. We were just here. We didn’t move the ball, we didn’t talk, we just did not play high level soccer and I told them so at the half. You can’t come out thinking that you can dial it up when you need to. When you step onto the field, you play at a high level or you are going to run into problems. We played much better in the second half but still not the way we have been playing. That’s not really acceptable.”
In the boys game, the McClain Tigers were in control the majority of the game in their 2-1 victory. The Mustangs played sluggish and the Tigers took advantage. In the last ten minutes of the game, the Mustangs finally found their aggression and were able to score a goal but it was too little, too late as the game ended with McClain on top 2-1.
“I was kind of nervous coming into this game,” said McClain Head Coach Jon Chamblin after the win. “Lynchburg always has a good team and Dennis [West] keeps them well coached and they move the ball well. We played well tonight though and moved the ball and played the way we should have been playing all season long. It’s a great win for our program and our kids.
Normally when you put Lynchburg in a hole, they come back strong. I expected that and told the kids that at halftime. I told them Dennis will have them ready for the second half and he did. Our defense held strong and I was proud of the kids. We let one slip but I think we played an overall good game.”
“We looked like we had never seen a soccer ball tonight,” said Lynchburg coach Dennis West. “We’re missing our two leading scorers tonight and it showed. Our offense was just disjointed or non-existent for most of the game. We had terrible shot selection and were not moving the ball the way we were capable of and Greenfield played really good defense. We had a terrible time and struggled just getting a good shot off. It just wasn’t happening. [McClain] worked hard and deserved to beat us tonight. Other than the last ten minutes we just looked like we were lost and confused. Hopefully when we have two good practices over the next two days, and get back against Hillsboro on Monday, we’ll be ready.”
Reach Robert Stegbauer at 937-393-3456 ext. 1679 or on Twitter @RStegbauer.
