Tigers trounce

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The Patriots led the Tigers for all of 11 seconds.

That’s how long it took Lea Alexander to net the equalizer. She put in a couple more goals for good measure.

Alexander erased the Jay County High School girls soccer team’s short-lived lead and recorded a hat trick Thursday as her Yorktown Tigers poured on seven unanswered goals for a 7-1 victory.

“This game, we got our butt kicked, plain and simple,” said JCHS coach Giles Laux, whose team has lost for the third time in the last four games after starting the year 7-0. “We’re going to have to revamp some things in practice next week to get ready for them when we see them again.”

Jay County (8-3) got on the board early as junior forward Kendra Muhlenkamp slipped behind the defense following a pass from Karlie Bullard. Muhlenkamp raced toward the net and buried her 19th goal of the season to the left side past YHS freshman keeper Carley Culberson.

It would have been Muhlenkamp’s team-leading 21st goal after she scored twice during a game Tuesday against Delta, but they didn’t count since the contest was canceled late in the first half because of weather. Instead, she now shares the team lead with Lucy Laux.

The Patriots’ only goal of the game came just 6 minutes, 16 seconds, into the contest.

But before they had time to enjoy being ahead on the scoreboard, the advantage vanished.

Alexander, a freshman, took the ball through the defense on the ensuing possession and beat JCHS goalkeeper Shelby Caldwell to the right side of the goal just 11 seconds after Muhlenkamp’s tally.

“Eleven seconds is fast,” said Yorktown coach Tim Ashton, whose team moves to 6-5-1.

Laux was astounded at the game-tying goal.

“That was just awful,” he said. “Not sure what happened on that. It was just that quick.”

Yorktown, which defeated Jay County in penalty kicks during the sectional semifinal last year, got goals later in the half from Hannah Rapp and Elizabeth Reece for a 3-1 lead, and Alexander tacked on another with 9:51 to play before halftime. Reece passed up to Alexander, who made a move on Caldwell as she came out to play the ball.

Alexander completed the hat trick with 4:57 left in the first half to give Yorktown a 5-1 lead at intermission.

“She did well,” Ashton said. “She’s fast. It helps that she has Hannah Rapp up there with her. It’s hard to cover both.”

Early in the first half, Jay County’s defense successfully trapped Yorktown into being whistled for offsides on a few occasions by putting the defenders as close to midfield as possible. But as the game went on the Tigers figured out how to beat the trap — have the midfielders chip the ball to the forwards, who then timed their runs to prevent being called for offsides.

“(Alexander), too much speed,” Laux said. “Broke at the right time to avoid offsides. Beat us to the punch.”

Rapp and Reece both beat Caldwell during the second half to finish with two goals apiece.

“We tried to change things up at half,” Laux said. “We did slow them down a little.”

Ashton doesn’t see Thursday’s final as a barometer should the sectional rivals — the tournament draw will be streamed live at 7 p.m. Sunday on IHSAAtv.org — meet again in the postseason.

“We beat them last year then had a whirlwind sectional match with them,” he said. The Tigers defeated the Patriots 5-2 during the regular season last year, then held a 3-1 advantage in PKs for a 5-4 semifinal win. “I don’t necessarily know if it matters. Sectional time comes around, everyone plays different.”



Junior varsity

The Patriots were able to do what their varsity counterparts could not in beating the Tigers, 1-0.

Anhely Montes scored the lone goal for Jay County, beating the Yorktown keeper early in the game.

The Patriots’ defense was able to hang on to the lead to record the shutout.