Jay edges Owls (09/23/04)

PORTLAND — Having broken the scoreless streak, the Patriots are now getting more players involved.

Jay County’s girls soccer team had gone without a goal for two-and-a-half games before exploding for four in the second half against Connersville Saturday. Wednesday evening, two players scored their first goals of the season as the Patriots scored a 2-1 win despite a solid effort from the visiting Muncie Burris Owls.

“I think they played pretty well,” said Burris coach Elizabeth Fritz, whose team has yet to win a game this year. “We didn’t do well keeping the field spread, which I asked for, but they did do a lot better with passes. We’ve been working on that for the past few days.

“We’re coming off a six games in eight days stretch. I think for that the girls played really, really well.”

Most of the first half of the contest was played on Jay County’s half of the field, but still looked destined to be tied at halftime. However, with the Patriots continuously busting through the left side of the defense, Jessica Heitkamp came through.

Burris goalie Rachel Martin tried to deny Heitkamp’s shot, but the Jay County senior got the ball away in time. She drilled it over Martin’s head and under the crossbar for a 1-0 lead. It was her first goal of the season and third of her career.

The Owls (0-8-2) managed to put the ball in the net six minutes later to tie the game. But, the Patriots went on the attack again in the final minute.

Senior Sarah Dirksen got the run started as she chipped the ball up from beyond midfield. Eventually Amber Champ came up with the ball and dribbled down the middle.

She didn’t try anything fancy, simply slamming her shot at the center of the goal and past Martin to give Jay County a 2-1 lead with just 35 seconds left before the intermission.

It was the first career goal for Champ, a junior who is playing her first year of soccer.

In addition to the goals from Heitkamp and Champ, the Patriots got shots on goal from nine different players in the contest. Heitkamp, Sara Garringer and Jamie Bruggeman each took three, and Krista Ross, Kristie Burke and Tequila Guntle finished with two apiece.

“It shows that we’ve got depth in the center and experience on our corners,” said Jay County coach Sue Rager. “A lot of the girls maybe haven’t scored this year, but have scored in the past. They’re getting tired of not scoring ... “

The first-half goal for the Owls came with 4:19 on the clock as Marisol Arellano took advantage of a Patriot defensive breakdown and got a shot past goalie Abby Loy.

Loy finished with three saves, and Chelsea DeBoy had six second-half saves.

Fritz said the Jay County goal three minutes later obviously hurt her team, but she also thought her players showed a little more hustle in the second half.

Arellano took half of her team’s 10 shots on goal in the contest. Kristen Johnson added three shots.

“It is hard to come from a deficit, no matter when it happens in a game,” said Fritz.

Both team’s had chances to score in the second half, but neither was able to come through. Rager said she thought the Patriots were dragging a little bit, thanks in part to unseasonably warm temperatures which reached the mid-80s.

“Tonight the heat was a big factor,” she said/ “The girls tonight in the first half put out a lot of energy, and in the second half it showed again that we were getting tired.”

“(Burris has) an inexperienced team. They definitely had the enthusiasm. After they got that first goal they were ready to come down and score again. They definitely were knocking on our door.”

Jay County (5-4-1) will play the fourth of its six straight home games tonight against Muncie Southside at 4:30 p.m.[[In-content Ad]]