JC boys win, girls lose at SA (09/15/03)

BERNE — The day ended better than it began for the Jay County soccer teams.

The opening game of a double-header saw a winded girls team fall to a 1-0 defeat to South Adams. The Patriot boys rallied for a couple of scores in the final 15 minutes to defeat the Starfires 3-1.

Jay County’s boys team controlled almost the entire contest against the Starfires, but still found itself stuck in a 1-1 tie more than halfway through the second half.

South Adams had scored less than four minutes into the game on a penalty kick. It held the lead for 25 minutes until Kyle Carpenter scored on a bounding shot from the left side of the goal box, getting the ball on passes from Josh Thornburg and Dave Johnston.

With the game still tied, coach Alan Bailey went back to an old trick to get an offensive spark.

He brought goalie Trent Bailey, who had been standing alone on his half of the field for most of the game, out of the goal with 13:56 on the clock. The move paid almost immediate dividends, as Bailey nearly scored on a header 22 seconds later.

The Patriots finally broke through a couple minutes later when Sergio Woo took possession near midfield on the right side and sent a pass up to Bailey. Bailey dribbled up the middle before dumping the ball to a streaking Dave Johnston, who scored the tie-breaking goal.

Bailey added another point to his stat sheet at the 7:47 mark, knocking a goal of his own off the left post for the final margin.

“I knew it would work,” said Alan Bailey. “We played the whole half on that side, and they were getting tired. I could see the hole in there where Trent would come in and cause havoc.”

Kyle Carpenter took a team-high seven shots on goal in the contest, and Sergio Woo took five. The Patriots totaled 25 shots on goal as a team, compared to just five for the Starfires.

Bailey took a pair of shots on goal, and made four saves on the day.

The win was the seventh in a row for Jay County (8-1).

“I’ve been preaching the mental thing,” said Bailey. “Now teams have to come on the field and beat us. We’re a good soccer team.”

Jay County’s girls team (3-2-1) had a variety of scoring opportunities late in the second half of its game, but couldn’t get anything past South Adams goal keeper Courtney Moore.

The Patriots made three strong drives down the field in the final 7:30, but two shots were easily saved by Moore and she got some help from the left post on the other.

The best chance to forge a tie came with 5:12 left, as Jamie Bruggeman drove down the right side before sending in a crossing pass. The ball scooted by Lindsay Friddle, but Brittany Logue crashed the goal to come up with a shot.

However, the ball bounded off the left post, and Jennifer Logue’s rebound try went wide right as the Starfires escaped with a win.

The rest of Jay County’s shots late in the game were slow rollers as the tired team tried to even the score. Coach Sue Rager was forced to substitute extensively in the second half.

“I think it came down to conditioning,” she said. “I thought we were in much better condition than we are.

“We had the opportunities in that last 10 minutes. They just ran out of steam. We were just not able to put it in.”

The lone South Adams goal came with 17:05 to play in the game, after a scoreless first half.

Moments after senior defender Beth Siegrist headed to the bench, Kaitlin Hoover sent a pass in the direction of Margaret Beymer. Patriot goalie Sara Garringer tried to slide out and take the ball away, but lost control.

Beymer picked up the ball and scored on the open net.

It was the second shot of the game for Beymer, who matched Kindle Inniger and Ashley Bollenbacher with a team-high two shots.

South Adams (2-3-1) took 10 shots on goal in the contest while Jay County had 11. Most of the scoring chances came in the second half as the teams combined for 16 shots on goal after the intermission.

Jamie Bruggeman took five shots for the Patriots, and Lindsay Friddle recorded four.

“Both teams played very well,” said South Adams coach Jose Brito. “This is our second year. We lost both games last year against (Jay County). We’ve improved a lot.”[[In-content Ad]]