That went in?

YORKTOWN — Throughout the regular season, a lot of the Patriots’ goals came from working the soccer ball inside the box.

The Tigers’ back line prevented them from getting those quality looks, and when the Patriots did sneak in, Zoey Winkle-Rhoades put an end to the drive.

But when they extended the ball beyond that 18-yard mark, they found that a short hop did the trick.

Jay County High School’s girls soccer team claimed a 3-1 victory over the host Yorktown Tigers in the IHSAA Sectional 24 opener on Tuesday.

The victory both avenges a 1-1 draw with Yorktown (8-8-1) during the regular season and earns the Patriots (12-4-1) a date with Delta in Thursday’s semifinal at 7 p.m.

“Getting these girls to believe in themselves and their capabilities has been a slow burner,” said JCHS coach Kendra Muhlenkamp. “One of the things I highlighted at the halftime was, ‘If you are upset right now, you should not be playing on the field. We’re up 1-0 in a sectional game and that is awesome.’

“So our mindset going into this sectional run is never upset with ourselves, always happy for our team and continue to push each other.”

Jay County generally controlled possession, but it struggled to get in close without multiple defenders immediately swarming for a steal.

While both shot attempts from inside the box were deflected before reaching the goal, the Patriots found an advantage with eight minutes remaining in the first half.

The possession started with Raylin Hummer driving down the left side of the field and attempting to cross the ball to London Lloyd in the middle of the box. While Lloyd controlled the ball, Amelia Hofmann was right there on defense and Mairin Gesler pinched over to take away any angle.

The sophomore dished the ball back out to Aixa Lopez, who got a touch 3 yards outside the box. Lopez didn’t expect much of the shot she took, but the ball looped over the defense, bounced in front of Winkle-Rhoades and snuck through her legs, leading to the goal and a shock for the JCHS senior.

“(Getting ahead) was really great, especially because of all the hard work we’ve been doing,” Lopez said. “I didn’t think it was going to go in, but then everyone started cheering. … I guess it kind of went through the goalkeeper's hands and then through her legs when trying to grab it.”

While the Tigers kept JCHS scoreless the rest of the half, it started to figure out a formula.

The Patriots couldn’t extend the lead through the first 15 minutes of the second half either, but started shooting from further and further out when the opportunity presented itself. Finally, that strategy paid off when Tessa Frazee ran up and launched the ball from the midfield line to once again bounce in front of Winkle-Rhoades and into the goal.

While Frazee was confident in her ability to hit a shot like that, she didn’t expect the outcome of that particular kick.

“I’ve been taking them all year in hopes one of them would go in,” Frazee said. “I’ve been having good touches tonight and when Finely (Hatzell) send that drop, I was really center with the goal and my hips were center. I did not expect it to go in. I expected it to get up to one of the forwards, but it went in the back and I don’t know how.”

Less than three minutes later, the Patriots found the net one more time. Lopez took a corner kick from the right side, but Lloyd couldn’t get her head on the ball. Hummer backed her up on the left half of the field and after controlling the ball, brought it back toward the top of the box. From 1 yard out, she chipped it over the defense and the ball bounced once before skipping past the Tiger goalkeeper.

Ariel Beiswanger, the sweeper for the Jay County High School girls soccer team, pokes the ball away from host Yorktown’s Harper Mitchell during Tuesday’s 3-1 victory in the sectional opener. Beiswanger and the back line played a clean game, making only one mistake late in the second half to allow Hopkins a free kick that sailed over Maleah Parsons’ wing span. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

On the other end of the field, the Patriots had Emma Hatzell, Araitz Lekue Magro and Frazee controlling the back line, while Ariel Beiswanger patrolled as a sweeper. In the regular season draw with Yorktown, the back line made a costly mistake, committing a handball violation in the box to allow a penalty kick for the lone score. They again played a near perfect game, but Lekue Magro fouled Harper Mitchell just outside the box, allowing the Tiger to launch the ball out of Maleah Parsons’ reach on the free kick with 11 minutes remaining.

“(Mitchell) for Yorktown is their best scorer,” Muhlenkamp said. “As soon as she took five shots back-to-back I said no more shots. We had a tagger on her, which kind of closed their offense a bit. … They took charge of the game with every ounce that they had.”