Patriots top Huntington, one away from OAC title (09/22/03)

PORTLAND — The race for the Olympic Athletic Conference girls soccer title isn’t quite over. But, Jay County is firmly in the driver’s seat.

The Patriots scored a 2-1 shutout win over the Huntington North Vikings Saturday.

They are now 4-1-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference with one game to play. The remaining conference contest is Thursday at 4:30 p.m. when Jay County visits the Muncie Southside Rebels, who it already defeated 4-0 in non-conference action.

It will also visit Muncie Burris Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

“It’s not over ‘til it’s over,” said Jay County coach Sue Rager, whose team is going for its second straight OAC title. “We’ve already played Muncie Southside this year, but they had some players out. The conference game is always a much more difficult game to play.”

The game against Huntington North was no picnic, with the Vikings getting at least as many good scoring tries as Jay County. But, it was the Patriots who took advantage and put the ball in the back of the net.

Jessica Heitkamp put the home team on the board first with less than 10 minutes to go in the first half.

Sara Garringer took the ball near midfield and drove right up the middle. About 20 yards from the goal she sent a pass to Jamie Bruggeman, who was streaking up the right side of the field.

Bruggeman dribbled down and sent a pass back in toward the goal. For a moment it looked as if it would cross harmlessly to the other side of the field, but Heitkamp came crashing in from the left side to bump the ball into the goal.

“She had a fantastic game,” said Rager of Heitkamp. Assistant coach Bev Arnold called it the best game of her career.

The score came with about nine minutes to go in the half, but it was far from the end of the pre-intermission action.

Lindsay Friddle and Sarah Miller couldn’t convert another Bruggeman cross two minutes later. Another push by Miller fell short of a score with three minutes on the clock.

Huntington North (2-6-2) also had a couple of good tries, the best coming just before time expired.

Ashley Roudebush and a teammate ran a give-and-go up the middle. A clean shot went off the right post, and Lexie Hosier cleared the ball just seconds before the halftime buzzer sounded.

The Vikings would have the same problem in the second half, getting a variety of great shots but not converting on any. Several went banging off one post or the other, and the rest were reeled in by Jay County goalie Beth Siegrist.

Siegrist, returning to action after being sidelined for two games because of an injury, saved all 17 of Huntington North’s shots. Roudebush took five shots for the Vikings.

“We were so glad that Beth was able to play today,” said Rager.

“I think I had us down for about 20 shots and not a single goal out of it,” said Huntington North coach Ryan Hosler. “It was pretty frustrating.

“I had them with about five good, solid opportunities, but they got two goals out of it. We didn’t play that bad. We were doing the things we were supposed to be doing offensively.”

Jay County’s second goal came on a bit of a fluke play, but allowed the team some breathing room for the final 30 minutes of the second half.

The score again came when Bruggeman pushed down the right side before centering it to Friddle about 30 yards away from the goal. Friddle passed it on to Miller, who chipped a shot from the dead center of the field at the top of the 18-yard box.

It looked as if goalie Miranda Louthan would pull in an easy save, but the bouncing ball slipped through her hands to give the Patriots the 2-0 final margin.

Heitkamp led the team with four shots on goal as Jay County matched the Vikings with 17 overall. Sarah Miller took three shots, and Friddle, Bruggeman, Brittany Logue and Abby Schmiesing each took two.[[In-content Ad]]