Carson Francis, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by Holzer Health System.
LUCASVILLE — Minford was given an inch, and it took a mile.
For nearly the first 30 minutes of Thursday night’s SOC rivalry match at Valley, the Falcons were locked in a stalemate in which several offensive attacks were thwarted by Valley’s defense.
That all changed at the 10:01 mark, however.
Senior Marley Rhodes connected for a goal to give Minford a 1-0 lead at the break — giving the Falcons all the momentum that led to four second-half goals en route to a runaway 5-0 victory on the road.
“I think we definitely had to work a little harder in the first half with the heat. But [Valley] had to play in it, too,” Minford junior Sadie Tieman said. “We just tried to play more as a team instead of individually, and that helped us all to preserve our energy and play hard the whole game.”
The Falcons’ ability to get their teammates involved made way for Minford to crack the ice first late in the first half.
All of Minford’s shots on target to that point had been denied, courtesy of Indians’ keeper Izabella Bray, who recorded five saves in the first half hour of play — 14 total in the match.
But with just over 10 minutes left in the half, the Falcons seized an opportunity when Laney Mullins lined up a free kick before lofting it downfield for Rhodes, who raced past three Valley defenders before firing a shot into the net for the first goal.
“I was actually pretty tired right there, and I wanted a sub really bad,” Rhodes said. “But I knew I had to push through for my team and I had to do what I needed to do so we could have that energy.”
That early 1-0 advantage would hold to the end of the half, and it gave Minford all the energy and momentum it needed the rest of the way.
The Falcons remained aggressive in the early stages of the second half and found another opportunity less than five minutes in. Rhodes took the ball away from a Valley midfielder and raced down the right side of the field, and this time, she crossed it to Jasmine Dixon, who scored down the middle to extend the lead to 2-0 at the 35:53 mark.
Defensively, Minford continued to do its job and limit Valley’s attack, giving its offense more opportunities to pull away.
“I think our defense really capitalized on [Valley’s] mistakes and bad touches.” Tieman said. “Our defense is very good. They all played together as a unit and we kept the ball up on the offensive end so we had many opportunities to score.”
The Falcons did just that with 22 minutes left, when Tieman lined up a corner kick and placed it in a perfect spot for McKenna Hay to knock the ball over the extended arms of Valley’s keeper, making it a 3-0 lead. Then, Tieman added to the count herself with 15:08 left, launching a free kick into the right side of the net to make it 4-0.
Tieman aided Minford’s final score of the night with 12:29 remaining, placing a corner kick right in front of the goal. There, Mullins would knock it through to extend the Falcons’ lead to 5-0 and cap off a second consecutive SOC shutout.
“At practices, we’ve been working really hard to put together passing strings,” Rhodes said. “We’ve just been working together and we have a lot of chemistry together, so it’s been really easy to play together.”
Valley will look to rebound on Tuesday evening, playing host to Wheelersburg. Meanwhile, Minford returns to action on Thursday when it hosts Northwest.
“I think we just need to take our momentum from this game, I think it really helped our confidence knowing that we can play with anyone in the league,” Tieman said. “Just take it and keep it going into next week and the weeks after.”
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