Derrick Webb, Managing Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
GREENFIELD — It took nearly 25 minutes for McClain to break the scoring seal on Tuesday.
But once the Tigers did, the floodgates began to open.
Senior captain Mylie Lovett gave McClain a 1-0 lead at the 16-minute mark in the first half before three different teammates scored a goal of their own.
The result was a 4-1 win over visiting Miami Trace, a victory that marked the program’s first-ever conference championship.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
“We’ve been working for this all year and we knew that it was in reach at the beginning of the season,” Lovett said. “We knew we had to get after it, so every game, we’ve just been improving.”
Way back on Aug. 15, the Tigers took a 3-1 loss at Unioto on the chin to open their season. But that’s also the last time they’ve lost a game this fall.
Since that loss, McClain (11-1-2, 7-0-2 FAC) has outscored opponents by a 60-9 margin.
“After the first game, we were down on ourselves because we lost,” senior Becca Bergstrom said. “But when the league came to play, we started playing well and were like,’ Wow, we actually have potential to win.’ We got off to a good start and we’re still going.”
A huge part of the team’s success has, obviously, been the defense.
The unit has pitched six shutouts while surrendering just five goals in Frontier Athletic Conference play.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done this in school history,” McClain’s Addison Olaker said after the win. “So this means a lot. [The defense] moves very well together and they know where to go and when to go. They just match. We can get better with our touches being closer to us. That won’t give the other team the opportunity to steal the ball from us.”
PHOTOS: Images from McClain’s win over Miami Trace
In the early stages of Tuesday’s contest, Miami Trace (10-3-1, 5-3-1 FAC) controlled much of the possession.
But that came to a screeching halt when McClain’s Paisley Pryor sent a rocket towards the Panthers’ goal. Pryor’s shot ricocheted directly off the keeper and landed at the foot of Lovett.
Lovett found the net to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead with 16:36 to play before halftime.
“We started off pretty slow, as we could all agree,” Lovett said. “That first goal just really got us going. We knew that we had a good chance in this game. So it brought us all together.”
A little more than 10 minutes later, with 6:18 to go, Pryor made her next shot count and gave McClain a 2-0 advantage going into halftime with her 21st score this fall.
Larah Henson got in on the action with 27:53 to play, sending a beautifully placed left-handed shot into the top left corner of the net for a 3-0 score.
And, with 15:44 remaining, Olaker tallied her 12th goal this season with a penalty kick after a hand ball was called in the box.
Miami Trace’s lone score of the night came with less than a minute to play when Nora Morrison nixed the shutout off an assist from Karleigh Cooper.
While the Panthers look to bounce back at Washington on Thursday, the Tigers will host Hillsboro and attempt to remain unbeaten in league play. McClain will then travel to Eastern Brown and host Fairfield to conclude their regular season slate.
Then, with a roster that features plenty of upperclassmen, the Tigers will hope to make a lengthy postseason run.
“We know what the other is good at, and we know when one should step and when one shouldn’t,” Bergstrom said. “We just know how to play together.”
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