The Hillsboro Indians boys and girls soccer teams hosted the Miami Trace Panthers on Tuesday at Hillsboro High School in Frontier Athletic Conference (FAC) soccer action. Both teams came away with the win.
The boys team was the first to take the field against the Panthers. In the opening minutes of the game the Panthers were able to score with little resistance to give themselves and early 1 – 0 lead.
The Indians came back with the answer shortly after as Marshall Ward cut through the defense and netted a goal to tie the game at 1 – 1.
Hillsboro added another goal shortly after when Tyler Loch was able to get his foot on the ball in between multiple defenders and squeeze in another goal to give the Indians a 2 – 1 lead that they would not relinquish.
Later in the first half, the Indians added another goal as Andrew Gunderman blasted a kick that sailed into the net for the first goal of his eventual hat trick. Hillsboro would take a 3 – 1 into halftime as their defense was much stronger in the first half after the initial lapse in focus during the opening minutes.
The second half saw Gunderman pump in two more goals for the Indians and Brian Shanahan also added a goal for the Indians. An own goal by the Indians gave the Panthers another score to provide the final 6 – 2 score.
Hillsboro boys head coach John Weber was pleased with his team after the game. “We are playing good soccer. After the Panthers scored on us we started passing the ball and our intensity in all phases of the game really picked up. We are playing much better as a team this year.”
The Lady Indians were up next and had a similar start to the game as the boys giving up an early goal to the Lady Panthers before righting the ship.
Callan Myers was on fire for Hillsboro in the first half as she scored three goals to give herself a hat trick and give the Lady Indians the boost that they needed to put Miami Trace away early.
Hillsboro was on top of their game the majority of the night maintaining possession, making crisp passes, and taking advantages of the opportunities that the defense gave them.
The second half saw the Lady Indians continue their outstanding play on both ends of the field. Natalie Sullivan added the fourth goal midway through the second half to provide the 4 – 1 final score.
Hillsboro girls head coach Jeremy Ratcliff was pleased with the effort from his girls on Tuesday but thinks they need more offensive threats. “Callan had a good night, she is one of our main offensive threats. We are still working to get more players to step up to be offensive threats, that will make it easier on everyone.”
Both teams will be in action again on Thursday when they travel to Chillicothe to take on FAC rivals the Chillicothe Cavaliers.
Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
