Jay wins tourney opener

YORKTOWN — The Patriots kept pressure on the goal Monday night, often chipping the ball up the middle of the field beyond the defense. For the first 24 minutes, Carter McClure was always there to cover the ball.
But eventually, the Muncie Central goalie couldn’t reach the ball in time.
Alex Dunn broke a scoreless tie after beating McClure to the ball at the 15:54 mark of the first half. Zane Shreve added a goal less than a minute later, and Jay County defeated the Bearcats 3-0 in the opening round of the Class 2A Sectional 15 boys soccer tournament at Yorktown Sports Park.
“We went and got hammered Saturday by Oak Hill, and hopefully the kids learned a lot from that,” said JCHS coach Alan Bailey, referencing Saturday’s 10-0 loss to the Golden Eagles. “I don’t think they wanted that to happen today so they came out and played hard.
“Tonight our passing was totally different from what it’s been. We were actually playing the ball back, playing it to the middle. We were getting a lot of one-twos.”
The victory sends the Patriots to the semifinal round, where it will take on Delta at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. JCHS won the regular-season meeting between the two teams 5-3.
Jay County (9-8) had chances to score in the opening 20 minutes, but McClure saved a hard shot by Dunn seven minutes into the game.
And Alex Abbott’s shot at the 21:39 mark on an open net sailed too high after he beat McClure toward the right post. Then with 16 minutes to play, the JCHS Alex duo teamed up to put the Patriots on the board.
Abbott chipped the ball through the middle, and Dunn was able to get behind the defense and reach the ball before McClure.. He fired a shot to the right corner to give Jay County the only goal it would need.
“We were doing a lot of switching from side to side,” said Muncie Central coach Shea Hill, whose team lost 7-2 to the Patriots in the opening game of the season. “And when we shifted, we have to shift goal side. … And what happened was when we shifted one of our backs was standing kind of shoulder to shoulder with (Dunn) instead of in between him and the goal, and he kind of had a clear path to it. That one little extra step was just enough for him to get to it before the keeper …”
Just over a minute later Shreve got the ball inside the 18-yard box on the left side. He had Abbott open for a pass in the middle, but instead ripped a shot past McClure a 2-0 advantage.
“That was big,” said Bailey of the Shreve goal. “We knew that they were going to come after us. They did against Kokomo Saturday. Zane getting that nice little ball on the outside and just hammering it home, that was huge to get that 2-0 lead.
“I’ve been on both of my wings to take those hits when they get the chance.”
Hill agreed that the two-goal deficit forced his team’s hand.
“The second one, it changes your style of play a little bit,” he said. “With one goal you’re still really trying to possess, use your drops … if opportunities aren’t there you don’t force it. But once you get two goals down you really have to start applying some pressure.”
Muncie Central (2-11-2) did put more pressure on the Patriot defense in the second half with Tri Nguyen, Andrew Dowdle and Chase Clasby leading the way, but they were unable to find the net. Goalie Kevin Scott saved a line drive shot from Dowdle 12 minutes into the second half, and an attempt by Nguyen off of a pass from Clasby went just wide to the left with about 10 minutes left.
Scott saved all five Bearcat shots on goal in the second half after Kyle Dirksen had one save in the first.
JCHS picked up its third score for the final margin with less than two minutes to play when Dunn tapped a shot to the left corner for his team-best 19th goal of the season.
“He’s that senior leader that wants the ball, that gets that shot to score,” said Bailey of Dunn. “He’s been playing huge. They all stepped up today.”


[[In-content Ad]]