John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
WAVERLY — It took the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs over 50 minutes to light up the scoreboard on Thursday.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
But once they did, they were well on their way to a fourth consecutive district championship.
It wasn’t until the 28:20 mark of the second half when the Mustangs (18-1-1) broke the scoreless tie. Senior captain Karlie Tipton smoked a low, left-footed shot into the back of the net for her 20th goal of the season.
“Karlie is a four-year starter and she’s been solid,” West said. “She’s improved her game and she’s been our leading scorer over the past three years. She didn’t have to carry that load this year but she’s still put up 20 goals this season. Her finishes have been so much better this year. We’ve talked to her about that and she’s done a really good job of it.”
And, thanks to an outstanding defensive performance from Trinity Van Fleet, Ella Barber, Olivia Van Fleet, Addie Downing and Lainie Lunsfeld, Lynchbur was able to keep Eastern’s dynamic Rylee Leonard off the board.
That wasn’t for a lack of trying as Leonard pestered the Mustangs throughout the night, but couldn’t dent the scoreboard.
The result was a 1-0 victory that sent Lynchburg into the Sweet 16.
The Mustangs’ defense has only allowed 13 goals in their 20 games on the season, for a sparkling 0.65 goals allowed per game. Thursday’s contest was the 10th shutout of the season for coach Dennis West’s Mustangs.
PHOTOS: Images from Lynchburg’s district final win over Eastern
“They’ve been good all year long. They’ve just been excellent,” West said. “Five of the goals we’ve given up have come against Madeira and Clinton-Massie. So the defense has been stellar all year long. They’re very active, quick to the ball and have great feet. And I don’t think they panic. They just rely on each other to bail each other out of tough situations.”
Eastern (10-6-3) came into the contest hungry after losing the regular season match to LC by a 5-1 final.
The Warriors brought in a great defensive game plan, which kept the Mustangs’ shots outside the box at a much lower percentage. Whenever the Mustangs did get shots off, Warrior goalkeeper Alyssa Perkins was there to smother each one as the senior tallied 11 saves on the night.
But while the Mustangs were unable to put up their typical goal scoring numbers, they were still getting in on the attack from Tipton, Kayln Rich and Jade Massey up front while Makenzie Morgan, Aubrey Slack and Miranda Smith controlled the midfield.
Ultimately, the Mustangs outshot the Warriors, 15-3.
“I’ll give credit to Eastern for what they did all night long tonight,” West said. “Their game plan and just their hustle, they stymied anything we tried to do. We held them to three shots but they frustrated us to death. [Eastern’s] Dan [Silvis] is a good coach and they’ve got some great players on that team.”
In the waning moments, the Warriors built up an attack with Leonard and McKinzie Dotson, and had a shot in the final moments. But Lynchburg’s Allie Watts collected the shot for her only save of the evening to end the threat.
Eastern ends their season as the district runner-up and graduates an outstanding senior class who were a major part of the Warriors’ trip to last season’s state semifinal.
With the win, Lynchburg-Clay advances to play North Adams in a Division III regional semifinal at 6 p.m., Tuesday at Zane Trace High School.
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