Jay routs Delta (09/14/05)

In the first few minutes it looked as if it would be a long evening for Jay County. It was a long one for Delta instead.

After avoiding a Delta score on a wide-open net less than three minutes into Tuesday’s game the Patriot girls soccer team dominated the rest of the way for a 6-0 victory over the visiting Eagles.

“At the beginning I think there were some remainders from Saturday,” said JCHS coach Sue Rager, whose team was coming off a 3-0 defeat to South Adams. “They didn’t realize that they could do what they should be doing — passing the ball. When they started actually passing the ball and getting the ball down the field like they needed to do and getting it out to the corners like we talked about before the game started then things started happening.”

Jay County (3-2-2) scored its three first-half goals in a span of just over 13 minutes, with Abby Schmiesing getting the first at the 32:34 mark. She chipped over goalie Ashley Pierce’s head off an assist from Saffron Redwine.

Redwine added a goal five minutes later when Tequila Guntle fed her the ball and the ground-ball shot went right through Pierce’s hands. She struck again at the mid-point of the first half on an assist from Dana Horn.

All three of those goals came after Delta had a great scoring opportunity early on. JCHS goalie Abby Loy tried to come out and grab the ball as it bounced in front of the goal, but it got past her. Delta sophomore Jamie Barker had a point-blank shot standing dead center in front of the open net, but her try went wide right and the Eagles never managed a shot on goal in the contest.

Loy and Nicole Pfeifer, who took over goalie duties in the second half, combined for the shutout.

Both teams were playing the game short-handed as Jay County is still missing juniors Sara Garringer and Jennifer Logue because of injuries and senior Amber Champ because of a suspension for a violation of team rules. Delta played the contest without its seniors as all six were suspended for the game, also for a violation of team rules.

“I think we’re starting to get accustomed to playing without those girls,” said Rager. “The girls who have been playing in those positions are starting to feel more comfortable ... They’re stepping up and doing a better job.”

The Patriots added three more tallies in the second half as they racked up a ridiculous 36 shots on goal. Thirteen different players took at least one shot with eight totaling two or more.

Cassandra Huelskamp got on the board less than seven minutes after the break with a chip over Pierce. Horn sent a rebound back into the net off of a deflected shot by Redwine with 21:43 to play, and Tequila Guntle added a score with 17:11 remaining.

Guntle paced Jay County with seven shots on goal. Huelskamp and Tiffani Bickel each had five, and Redwine added four.

In addition to the high scoring output, Rager praised freshman midfielder Kaelee Keller and the defense for consistently keeping the ball on the Patriots’ offensive end.

“(Keller) did a really good job defensively as far as getting the ball down the field,” she said. “It just seemed like there were times she was anticipating (where the ball would be) and feeding it up to the other girls. I’ve just been really impressed with her as the season has progressed ...

“Jessica (Morgan), Brianne (Wellman) and Alissa (Myers) are working really well together. Their trying to keep that ball fed to the midfield. I think those three girls are really doing a nice job.”[[In-content Ad]]