Lady Mustangs fall 2-1 in regional semi finals

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Soccer season in Highland County is officially over as the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs, the final team left in action, fell to Grandview Heights Tuesday night in the regional semi-finals with a final score of 2-1.

Coming into the game, Lynchburg was ranked No. 6 in the final Division III state poll while Grandview came in as the No. 2 ranked team.

The entire game was fast-paced action as both teams were playing stifling defense on the other.

The Lady Mustangs finally broke open the scoring with a goal from Peyton Scott with 9:21 left on the clock to make it 1-0. Hannah Binkley assisted on the play.

And that was how the game stayed until the half.

As the second period began, there seemed to be a shift in the intensity of Grandview’s defense, as it was harder and harder for the Lady Mustangs to get the ball near the goal to set up an open shot. Lynchburg had a few shots taken but none of them were able to find their mark.

Grandview finally answered Lynchburg’s goal with one of their own with 24:28 on the clock off a corner that was kicked in and off the hands of Lexi Waits to even the score 1-1.

Six minutes later (18:03), the Bobcats added to their score with another goal and that turned out to be the last goal of the game for either side and Lynchburg’s season came to a tragic end as their hard fought season ended with a 2-1 loss.

“These girls had a fantastic season,” said Lady Mustangs coach Dennis West about his team after the game. “They represented the Southeast District very well tonight. It is a shame to see the season end this way but they have nothing to be ashamed of tonight.

“We ran into the number two team in the state in the final poll. One goal separated us so we felt like we played very well. The injuries kind of caught up to us there a little bit. [Grandview] has great team speed and that caused us some grief. We knew the Reese girl was going to be the primary one we needed to stop. We did a great job of that in the first half and only gave up one goal to her total. She had at least 27 going into this game, so we felt like we did a pretty good job of containing her, but we just had a couple mistakes and it cost us.”

With the loss, Lynchburg finishes the season at 16-3-1 with a league title, where they finished unbeaten in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, and a district championship.

The Lady Mustangs graduate six seniors: Alexa Cochran, Chelsi Hacker, Bailey Leininger, Ali Little, Marissa Mitchell and Madison Wills.

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

Hannah Binkley gets by a Grandview Heights defender in the game Tuesday night. Binkley assisted in Lynchburg’s only goal of the night as the Lady Mustangs fell with a final of 2-1
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2015/11/web1_HannahB.jpgHannah Binkley gets by a Grandview Heights defender in the game Tuesday night. Binkley assisted in Lynchburg’s only goal of the night as the Lady Mustangs fell with a final of 2-1 Robert Stegbauer | The Times-Gazette

By Robert Stegbauer

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