'Cats top JCHS

The Patriots survived a first half in which they rarely got the ball across midfield and were constantly under pressure on the defensive end. But when Sydney Clasby got open space to work in the second half, they couldn’t stop her.
Clasby scored twice in a span of six minutes to lift the Muncie Central Bearcats to a 2-0 victory over the Jay County High School girls soccer team.
“She is very good,” said JCHS coach Abby Champ of Clasby. “She is skilled. She waited for her opportunities and then she took them.”
After the scoreless first half, Clasby gave Muncie Central (9-4) the lead when she broke past LeAnn Horn in the center of the field. She then worked to the right against Nikka Chaney and fired a shot back to the left corner leaving goalie Mollie May no chance to stop it.
Clabsy, who now has 26 goals on the season, added her second score at the 28:40 mark of the second half when she took a pass from Jessica Rowe. The freshman sprinted past Chaney toward the left post and shot to the right corner past the outstretched arms of May.
Just over two minutes later May knocked another good Clasby shot over the top for a save, and Chaney booted away a potential goal from Alinda Young at the 17:05 mark.
“Those two players, they’ve got speed,” said Muncie Central coach David Trimbur. “Sydney (Clasby) is a good scoring threat.“Alinda (Young) in the middle … she’s fast and she can beat people one-on-one. That’s the goal is to get them in space.
“In the first half (the Patriots) pushed three players forward, that’s it. In the second half they started pushing four and five. That allowed us, once we got the ball, to have more space and go. That’s probably what created the two goals in the second half, even though I thought we played better in the first half.”
The game marked the second time in three days that the Patriots (2-9-3) have taken on a 20-goal scorer. Blackford’s Ali Norton (21 goals) had the only score in Jay County’s 1-0 loss to the Bruins Tuesday.
The Patriots’ best chance at finding the back of the net came with 18 minutes to go in the opening half. They made a rare run down the field, with Sammi Compton pushing the ball up the right side after a throw-in. She got free for a shot, but it went over the crossbar.
“We just were not getting to the ball (in the first half),” said Champ. “There was not one person on our team who was beating the person she was matched up to.
“When Central was stepping in to cut (the ball) off, we needed to make an adjustment, and we just weren’t making the adjustment.
“When you have that, you’re never going to get it down (on your offensive did). And the one time we did, it’s the story of our season, we shot it over the net.”
While giving up the pair of goals to Clasby, Jay County successfully defended more than 10 corner kicks.
The most impressive of those came in the opening half when Casey Byrnes sent the ball in from the right side. A group of players attacked the ball near the left post and it seemed headed into the net, but May was able to leap and reach back behind her body with her right hand to scoop the ball away.
May finished with six saves, and Champ was also complimentary of the effort from freshman Alex Loy.
“Alex did an awesome job tonight,” said Champ. “She played three different positions. She was all over the place. Her foot, she made the biggest kicks we’ve seen from her all season.”
The game marked the eighth scoreless game this season for the Patriots, whose only shot on goal came from Compton.
It was Jay County’s first full game without senior Lindsay Moser, who suffered a broken leg in Tuesday’s loss to Blackford.[[In-content Ad]]