Indians defeat Clinton-Massie 5-0

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It was an exciting night of soccer for the Hillsboro girls and boys teams on Tuesday night as they both hosted South Central Ohio League opponents Clinton-Massie.

In the first game, it was all Indians, as the Hillsboro boys blanked the Falcons 5-0.

The Indians started a little slow, getting their first goal well into the first period off a header by Quinn Conlon with 23:27 to go.

After that they got three more goals before time expired, the final goal of the period coming with just five seconds to go.

The Indians scored one more goal in the second period with 14:54 to go to bring the game to its final score of 5-0.

“Overall, we started very slow tonight,” said Indians coach John Weber after the game. “The first 15 minutes or so, we weren’t playing to our full potential. Then we started to calm down a little bit and started passing the ball a lot better.

“I was very happy with our play tonight, especially in the second half. Even though we only scored the one goal in the second period, I really liked our movement of the ball. We still need to work on our finishing. I can’t tell you how many balls we kicked right at or right over the goal keeper.”

The Indians are now 2-0-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the SCOL.

The second game of the night featured the Lady Indians going up against the Lady Falcons of Clinton-Massie.

What looked to be a big loss early, turned out to be an exciting second half comeback for the Hillsboro girls, which ended in a 5-5 tie to a historically good Massie team.

The Lady Indians struck first early in the first eriod with a goal by Mallory Sluss at the 37:33 mark, but the Lady Falcons just took lomger to get warmed up and led the game at the half with a score of 3-1.

In the second half, the Lady Falcons struck quickly for two more goals to make it 5-1 and the Lady Indians goal keeper was injured on the goal that made it 5-1, which turned out to be a good thing for the Lady Indians.

With the pause in the action, the Lady Indians were able to regain their focus and begin a second half comeback.

This comeback was led by Hope Tira, who seemed to be around the ball or in control of the ball every time it made it to the Hillsboro side of the field. She scored the first goal in the comeback to make it 5-2 with 24:03 to go, and struck again 11 minutes later with another goal to bring the Lady Indians within two goals.

Mallory Sluss assisted Callan Myers with a free kick with just 7:17 to go to make it 5-4 and the Lady Indians tied the game 5-5 with another goal by Myers with 5:32 to go. This one was originally shot by Tira but bounced off the keeper and Myers was there to stick it back in the goal to tie the game and bring it to its final score of 5-5.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Riley Moberly was saving shots and shut down the Lady Falcons offense with some aggressive play outside of the box to help keep the momentum in the favor of Hillsboro.

“Tonight was a tale of two games really,” said Lady Indians coach Jeremy Ratcliff after the comeback. “We started out pretty calm on the ball and jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but Massie isn’t a team that is going to just fold and go away. We kind lost a little bit of composure and fell down 3-1 at halftime and then came out in the second half and at one point were down 5-1. I’m super proud of the girls. They could have easily given up and turned on each other but they didn’t. They kept fighting and showed a lot of heart, individually and collectively. It’s kind of nice to see some of the things we’ve spent the last few days starting to come together. These girls are growing every night and the seniors are starting to learn their roles as leaders and things are starting to come together.”

The Lady Indians are now 1-1-1.

Reach Robert Stegbauer at 937-393-3456 ext. 1679 or on Twitter @RStegbauer.

Quinn Conlon races to a ball in Tuesday’s game with Clinton-Massie. Conlon scored the first goal for the Indians in the 5-0 shutout
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2015/09/web1_Conlon.jpgQuinn Conlon races to a ball in Tuesday’s game with Clinton-Massie. Conlon scored the first goal for the Indians in the 5-0 shutout Robert Stegbauer | The Times-Gazette

Lady Indians Hope Tira ets out in front of the defense right before her first goal of the night that led the charge in the comeback Tuesday night.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2015/09/web1_Tira.jpgLady Indians Hope Tira ets out in front of the defense right before her first goal of the night that led the charge in the comeback Tuesday night. Robert Stegbauer | The Times-Gazette
Lady Indians have huge second half comeback to tie 5-5

By Robert Stegbauer

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