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KINNIKINNICK — 494 minutes and 23 seconds.
That’s the amount of time that Lynchburg-Clay’s defense has played since the last time its conceded a goal.
In that time frame, 25 days have passed and the Mustangs (15-0-4) have secured seven victories, including a 1-0 win over SHAC rival Fairfield in a Division III regional semifinal on Tuesday night.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
All the Mustangs needed was a single score to get the job done and Southeast District Player of the Year Jade Massey gave them just that, scoring with 26:32 to play in the opening half for the deciding tally.
It’s the 41st goal of the season for the senior.
“I kind of came into the game thinking I was going to be marked the entire game,” Massey said. “Like last game, I couldn’t do anything. I felt useless out there. I just saw an open gap and took it with three defenders there. I just turned, shot and hoped it went in.”
After Massey’s goal, Lynchburg-Clay’s defense just had to do its thing.
Seniors Lainie Lunsford and Samantha Merry, alongside juniors Olivia Van Fleet and Addie Downing, and sophomore goalkeeper Caitlyn Collins, only allowed a handful of shot attempts from the Lions, with just two on target.
“We just talk, communicate and we back each other up,” Van Fleet said of the team’s defense. “[Lainie] Lunsford is really good in the middle and our two outsides, Addie Downing and Samantha Merry, they’re pretty good on the outsides and they’re always covering each other.”
Shutting out Fairfield (15-4-1) is no small task. The Lions came into Tuesday’s contest with 101 goals, scoring five-plus per game.
The senior duo of Faith Donley and Kennedy Zink had accounted for 66 goals of those scores this season, forcing the Mustangs to be locked in for the entire 80 minutes.
Donley was able to shake free midway through the second half after a brilliant pass from Zink, but Collins was able to parry away the shot, shutting down the best look of the night for the Lions.
“[Having a great defense] is pretty nice, considering I’m a senior and any game could be my last,” Massey said. “So I rely on [the defense] back there. I have pretty high hopes, considering we have seven goals scored against us in [19] games.”
With their 10th shutout in their last 11 matches, Lynchburg-Clay advances to its second consecutive regional championship game and third in four seasons.
They Mustangs will now face Cincinnati Country Day — a 4-0 winner over Grandview Heights — at noon, Saturday at Chillicothe’s Herrnstein Field.
The Nighthawks beat the Mustangs by a 4-0 tally in a Division III state semifinal last season on their journey to a state championship.
“I feel like we can get better with our possession,” Massey said. “And talking … less yelling at each other. It’s hard to do when it gets frustrating out there but those are definitely things we can work on.”
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