Jay Co. falls to Eastern (10/15/2008)

MARION - Ninety-four minutes of scoreless soccer came down to 10 alternating shots. The Patriots came up just a couple short.

The Eastern (Greentown) Comets outscored Jay County High School 4-2 in a shootout for a 1-0 victory in their opening-round game at the Marion girls soccer sectional.

"We adjusted our lineup to control both our back line and midfield defense and keep us in the match," said JCHS coach Ed Wellman, whose team finished at 2-12-1. "We practiced this week for this type of ending but we just didn't quite execute it well enough tonight to pull it off."

After 80 scoreless minutes in regulation and another two scoreless seven-minute overtime halves, the game went to a five-player shootout. The Patriots even had a brief lead after freshman goalie Mollie May saved the first shot by Eastern and JCHS senior Brianne Wellman scored.

However, the Comets converted their next four shots to take the victory. After Wellman's goal, the Patriots missed on two of the next three with only sophomore Mallory Poole putting the ball in the net.

Despite the loss, Ed Wellman was complimentary of his team - it had just two players to bring off the bench compared to Eastern's roster of 25 - for pushing the game all the way to the deciding shootout.

"This team has become a very tough-minded group of girls," he said. "Our seniors showed a lot of leadership and class tonight in what ended up being their last high school match. We were short-handed but Brianne, Kaelee (Keller) and Tricia (Skiver) provided stability in a sectional atmosphere that a lot of our younger players hadn't experienced before."[[In-content Ad]]