Jay Co. girls obliterate Owls (09/25/03)

MUNCIE — Last night was a nice dress rehearsal. Now its time for the real thing.

The Jay County girls soccer team topped the Muncie Burris Owls 4-0 Wednesday in what it hopes was nothing more than a prelude to a celebration tonight.

The Patriots (5-4-1) visit the Muncie Southside Rebels today at 4:30 p.m. for a chance to clinch a second straight Olympic Athletic Conference title. Burris defeated Southside 1-0 Monday, and Jay County has already scored a win over the Rebels, beating them 4-0 at the Muncie Central Invitational.

“It was just a nice win to have after the week we had last week,” said Jay County coach Sue Rager, whose team lost a heartbreaker 2-1 to Delta and fell 9-0 to Bellmont before rebounding for a huge OAC win over Huntington North Saturday. “The girls played really well tonight. We were passing the ball better and dropping the ball. We did some things we’ve been working on in practice.”

Doing those things helped many Jay County starters rest up in the second half for the big game against Southside after scoring four times before the intermission.

Sarah Miller got the scoring started less than 10 minutes into the game thanks mostly to Lindsay Friddle.

Friddle rushed down the field to beat the defense to a loose ball just inside the 18-yard box. She darted toward the goal and slammed a hard shot off of charging Owl goalie Tammy Lowe.

Lowe tried to scramble for the ball, but couldn’t get to it and was out of position as Miller put the rebound easily into the back of the net.

Jay County got another quick push toward the goal without a score, but the rest of the half continued to be all about the visiting team. Lowe came up with some saves — including one on a big shot by Jamie Bruggeman from deep on the right side — before the Patriots broke through again.

This time it was Abby Schmiesing, who grabbed control of a throw-in between a pair of Burris defenders. She took a few short dribbles and shot from the left side about 15 yards out.

The ball snuck inside the right post well out of Lowe’s reach, putting Jay County up 2-0 with 17:54 to play in the half.

About 10 minutes later Schmiesing made another push up the left side of the field, getting a pass to Miller running toward the left post. Miller scored her second goal of the contest, crossing another shot past Lowe and inside the right post.

Bruggeman took care of the fourth goal by herself at the 6:34 mark. She came flying up the right side of the field and launched another bomb.

Lowe put herself in position, but couldn’t handle the junior Patriot’s power as she stumbled while the ball spun through her hands for fourth score.

Burris finally got a decent scoring try in the final minute of the first half when Jessica McIntire broke through the Jay County defense and got a pass to Judith Struewing. However, Sara Garringer came out to make the save, denying the Owls on one of their two shots on goal in the half.

Short-handed Burris managed four second-half shots for a total of six, with McIntire recording half of the total tries. The Owls had no substitutes in the game because of several injuries, and occasionally played short-handed.

“It does get rough,” said Burris coach Elsbeth Fritz. “They didn’t even want to come off. They all want to go out there and play, and they all played hard.”

The Owls (1-7-1) did play better in the second half, holding Jay County to eight harmless shots after allowing 13 in the first.

Rager’s Patriots were led by Jessica Heitkamp’s four shots. Friddle and Bruggeman each took three, and Miller and Schmiesing took two apiece.

Many of Jay County’s starting offensive players took to the bench in the second half.

“We were able to get everybody to play tonight,” she said. “That’s always nice.”

But while the offense was resting, the defense remained mostly intact throughout the game. The payoff was a second straight shutout with Renae Laux, Sarah Dirksen and Lexie Hosier anchoring the defense.

Krista Ross was with them in the first half before giving way to freshman Jennifer Logue in the second. Garringer owned first-half goalie duties, and Beth Siegrist rejected each of the Owls’ shots after the break.

Rager had nothing but praise for her back line.

“They just play so well together,” she said. “They talk well, they work well and they know each others strengths and weaknesses.

“Sarah Dirksen time after time tonight brought the ball around and kept it in. All of those girls do an excellent job together.”[[In-content Ad]]