Patriots, HN tie (08/21/06)

The Jay County and Huntington North girls soccer teams are evenly matched. That much, no one can dispute.

The Patriots and visiting Vikings proved it on the field again this year, finishing in a 1-1 tie. The fomer Olympic Athletic Conference rivals also tied last season, that time in a 2-2 deadlock.

JCHS coach Sue Rager said the loss was frustrating after her team opened the season by doubling up Heritage 6-3 Thursday.

"To me this is a different team than the one that played Thursday night," she said. "Thursday night we had great passing. We were communicating with each other. Today looked more like a pinball game. (We weren't) taking our time with the ball."

Jay County (1-0-1) held a 1-0 lead for more than 50 minutes of the contest, but the stars aligned for the Vikings late in the second half.

With about 11 minutes remaining, Huntington North freshman Alyssia Williams pushed the ball up the field and passed to Alecia Johnson, who then found Jessica Stahly on the right side. Stahly's shot was no good, but in the scramble for the ball JCHS goalie Abby Loy took a knee to the head from one of her own players.

Loy was forced out of the game, the Patriots moved Sara Garringer to goalie and the Vikings (0-1-1) countered with five substitutions. The changes paid off for Huntington North in a hurry.

Before Loy was able to return - she was off the field for less than 1:30 - Viking senior Katie Durrwacher hit a long, looping shot from the right side that went well over Garringer's head and into the net to tie the contest. Durrwacher accounted for half of Huntington North's shots on goal with 10, and Stahly added seven.

"We definitely took advantage of that," said Huntington North coach Ryan Hosler. "We had been controlling the ball pretty well all game, we were just half a step off our shot all game long. It probably wasn't at the most expected moment, but I'm glad we were there."

Garringer accounted for the lone Patriot tally, scoring her fourth goal in two games this season midway through the first half.

A Huntington North defender had the ball on the right side, but Garringer swiped it. She needed only a few dribbles to gain control, then ripped a shot past goalie Sadye Howland and just inside the near post for the 1-0 lead.

Jay County had a couple of other scoring opportunities late in the first half, but could not convert. Howland finished with four saves in the first half, and senior Kayla Williams took over in the second half and saved all six shots which came her way.

Rager praised Loy as the star of the game as the junior denied Huntington North on all 19 shots against her. She made several difficult saves, including an overhead grab 10:30 into the contest. In the second half she outran Viking attackers to passes in the box on several occasions to take scoring chances away.

"Definitely she saved us from several that could have been goals," said Rager.

Jay County was hurt offensively by seemingly constant offside calls.

The Patriots managed just 11 shots to Huntington North's 20. Three of those came from Garringer, along with two each by Brianne Wellman and Caitlin Dunn.

"That's our defense this year," said Hosler. "One of our major goals is we want to play most of the game in the middle part of the field and we're really pushing forward. I have a lot of speed in my sweeper and two of my fullbacks, so if we don't get the offside call, they're there to make up for it. That's our strategy."[[In-content Ad]]