Bested by Bennett

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Each time the Patriots appeared to tilt momentum in their favor, Nakayla Bennett put an end to it.

In the final minutes, she put the game away.

The Jay County High School girls soccer team nearly erased a three-goal deficit but Bennett notched her fifth and final tally in the closing minutes as the Patriots dropped their season opener 7-5 to the visiting Richmond Red Devils on Monday.

“(Bennett) is the biggest competitor we’ve had in a long time, so she just gives her heart all the time,” Richmond coach Neal VanMiddlesworth said. “We’ll depend on (her speed) a lot this year.

“That was the difference. It’s a nice thing to have as a coach is to have a player like that, just the athleticism and the competitive nature.”

Goals by Eliza Bader and Anhely Montes almost three minutes apart late in the second half pulled Jay County (0-1) within striking distance of Richmond (1-0), trimming what was a three-goal deficit to just one.

But following a flurry of Patriot attempts to net the equalizer with less than 10 minutes to play in the game, Bennett, a senior forward, put the game out of reach. The speedster zoomed past the JCHS defense down the right side of the pitch, made a move toward the center of the field and buried her fifth goal of night to the right side of the net.

“She is fast,” said JCHS coach Renae Laux, who earlier in the day was named interim coach after the abrupt resignation of Giles Laux. “I would say she is smart positioning-wise. She knows where to stand, her teammates know where she’s at at all times. They know how to feed her the ball well.”

But despite the fact the Patriots trailed by three goals on three separate occasions, Laux commended the team’s ability to claw back into the contest.

“I was proud of their effort, their tenacity, their willingness to never give up,” she said. “They continued to communicate with each other, not get upset with each other. (I’ve) just really been hitting home the fact we’re a team. We have to do this together, win, lose or draw.”

Jay County dominated the offensive chances in the first 20 minutes even though the score was tied 1-1. Richmond scored in the 14th minute on a goal from Riley Wetzel before Halle Hill notched the Patriots’ first goal of the game in the 17th minute.

Outside of the goals by each team, Jay County had an edge in other scoring chances, 9-2.

The Patriots continued the pressure until Bennett notched a natural hat trick to give the Red Devils a 4-1 lead that stood at halftime.

Montes scored on a free kick following a hand ball in the penalty area to trim the margin to 4-2, only to have Bennett score again, this time on a rocket from about 30 yards out that JCHS goalkeeper Tricia Ison had deflect off her hands and under the crossbar.

Senior Mikele Suman converted a PK, making it 5-3, before Sierra Rust of Richmond put the difference back at three goals.

Jay County responded as Bader and Montes went back-to-back to pull within one.

“I saw heart out of her,” Laux said of Montes, who was battling a bit of an ankle injury throughout most of the game. “There were times I’d look over and she’s bent over trying to stretch it out. The next moment she’s sprinting down the field after a ball trying to get a pass to somebody or doing what she needs to do.

“That’s what I ask for out of the girls. That’s my biggest thing; I’ve always told them that I want them to work hard and I want them to be good teammates and I thought they did that tonight.”