John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
LUCASVILLE — A historic season in Greenfield continues to march on.
There’s been a lot of firsts for McClain’s girls soccer program this fall.
The Tigers have set a new single-season win record, have captured their first-ever conference championship and, as of Thursday night, now have a brand new district championship trophy — also the program’s first.
Two goals from junior Paisley Pryor, a stifling defense, and outstanding goalkeeping from Leah Lovett made the difference down the stretch as the Tigers (15-2-2) held off Wheelersburg by a 2-1 final in a Division IV district final at Valley High School.
The history book’s pen continues to move.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
“I’m just so proud of them,” McClain coach Blain Bergstrom. “It’s not just because of this year but because of all the work they’ve put in before that to get here. It’s just a tremendous thing. I’m just speechless. It’s all about the girls. It’s win and advance now. We’ve played a really tough schedule and we were ready tonight.”
Thursday’s match was a contest between two high-scoring offenses and more-than-capable defenses, which created a stalemate for a little over the first 20 minutes of the match.
McClain got the scoring started at the 17:12 mark of the first half when Pryor picked up a takeaway in the defensive third of Wheelersburg, dribbled into the penalty area and sent a right-footed shot into the side netting to grab an early one-goal advantage.
The Tigers kept the pressure on, getting balls from the midfield with Larah Henson and Mylie Lovett to Pryor and Addison Olaker up top. Meanwhile, Wheelersburg’s Ava Artrip appeared to be everywhere, defending all over the pitch to keep her Pirates in the game, despite the early deficit.
That pressure paid off early in the second half as another turnover, credited to the whole field defense by the Tigers, led to a free Pryor on the left side of the box.
Once the junior has space, more times than not, you can put it on the board. The junior scored a similar goal to her first with 38:17 to play, pushing the advantage to 2-0.
“In this game, sometimes when you go up by two goals, the first thing the kids do is start to relax,” Bergstrom said. “They fall back a little bit and they’re not as aggressive. We had a couple of more chances to score but Wheelersburg’s goalie had a couple of great saves. But it was nice to have that lead with the defense we have and with how our defense was playing.”
Finding itself down two goals, Wheelersburg (14-4) started to push to get back into the game.
PHOTOS: Images from McClain’s district title win over Wheelersburg
The trio of Makenzie Mullens, Ella Hochstetler and Ella McGraw had combined for 67 goals coming into the game and they showed why with quick passing and runs that continued to push the McClain back half.
The Pirates finally broke through, but it was with a long distance blast, when Mullens fired a left-footed cannon from 35 yards out that just snuck under the crossbar to give Wheelersburg some life with 23:01 to play.
McClain nearly added on twice in the following minutes, but Wheelersburg’s Bri Whitley made two outstanding saves, including a diving save on what would have been an own goal with just under 17 minutes to play.
Whitley’s acrobatics helped calm the Pirates and gave them a renewed offensive push forward.
The ensuing minutes spiked the anxiety of spectators wearing purple and gold, but the defense led by Becca Bergstrom, Abigail Marsh, Brie Cummins and Bailey Parson was never rattled.
The back line turned away attack after attack from the vaunted Pirate offense, flat out denying scoring chances that appeared temporarily with a swarming mentality.
With four minutes to play, the Pirates finally got loose, but a hustling Bergstrom forced a cutback and Lovett was perfectly positioned to smother Hochstetler’s left-footed shot to eliminate the threat.
That shot would be the final attempt the Pirates were able to get off as the Tigers closed their first-ever district championship victory.
Lovett put together her most complete game of the season in the biggest moments for the Tigers. The senior collected six huge saves, but also played excellent overall in her decision-making and looked like an experienced keeper … not of a player appearing in their 19th career game.
“I want to thank my defense, because nothing could be possible without them,” Lovett said. “This season has been a journey. I started off knowing nothing about soccer and now here we are, district champions.”
While Wheelersburg’s season comes to a close, McClain advances to a Division IV regional semifinal at 7 p.m., Tuesday at Jackson’s Alumni Stadium. The Tigers will face Alexander, who beat Hillsboro by a 2-1 final to advance.
The teams are familiar with each other. Last season, Alexander eliminated McClain in the district semifinal round.
“Growing up and seeing people on the walls of your school, that’s your goal,” Pryor said. “You want to be like them when you grow up, so to be able to be up on that wall [as a district championship team], that’s so amazing. We definitely aren’t done yet. This is fun. We are going to celebrate and then we are going to get back to work and get after it on Tuesday.”
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