Patriots short of a comeback

Addie Chester sliced her way to a pair of goals in the first half.

The Patriots were not alone in letting the Eagle junior do so. She’s done it all season.

But as the Patriots rallied from a two-goal deficit in the second half to tie the score twice, it was the Eagles’ premier player who stopped the comeback.

Chester scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 70th minute Tuesday as the Jay County High School girls soccer team had its hopes of a comeback victory against sectional rival Delta Eagles fall short in a 5-4 loss.

“She is a heck of an athlete as you can see,” Delta coach Brytany Pope said. “I think it just shows in the work ethic, the dedication, her drive to be part of the team is 100% there at all times.

“She’s a great asset for our team.”

Jay County (4-6-1) played a much stronger second half than it did during the first 40 minutes, not letting the 3-1 halftime deficit prove too much to overcome.

“Ultimately I do think we came out and competed in the second half,” JCHS coach Renae Laux said. “We talked about things, adjustments that we needed to make, offensively and defensively at halftime.

“I think our second half performance was what it needed to be. We just have to sharpen up in the first half.”

Jay County’s comeback began in the 41st minute when it got the first of its two quick scores to tie the game. First, Mara Bader had the ball down the left side of the field and cut toward the middle, then put a shot from just inside the 18-yard box over the outstretched hands of Delta goalkeeper Avery Chester.

Less than three minutes later, Gabi Bilbrey buried a penalty kick, which was awarded following a hand ball inside the box, to the lower left side of the net for the equalizer.

Addie Chester, who entered Tuesday’s contest with a whopping 50 goals (4.5 per game) put Delta (6-6) ahead 4-3 in the 62nd minute, going to the far post from the left side of the field.

Bader and the Patriots answered not even a minute later. Bilbrey, who scored the Patriots’ first-half goal, dribbled down the left side of the pitch through the Delta defense before unloading a close-range shot on Avery Chester. The shot was deflected, but Bader was there to kick in the rebound to make it 4-4.

“We’ve been talking a lot with her about positioning, quick touches on the ball as far as one-touch and firing that thing off,” Laux said. “Not everybody’s strength is to be able to dribble in and out of congestion. We say play to your strengths, (kicking from far) is one of her strengths.

“She’s got a good enough leg to kick it from further out and she did that tonight.”

But with 10:54 to go, any hopes the Patriots had to take the lead for the first time on the night were dashed with Addie Chester’s eventual game-winning goal.

Hailey Conner scored the other goal for Delta, giving the Eagles the lead in the third minute. From there, however, it was all Chester.

Jay County defeated Delta 5-4 in rural Muncie last season, and they didn’t meet again during the sectional tournament. Should they play again in the postseason — the sectional draw is Sunday — Laux said she knows what it’ll take to reverse fortunes.

“Obviously we need to have a better first-half performance,” she said. “Just make it more of a complete game. I think overall we just need to have a more complete game than just one half.”