Patriot girls denied a third consecutive championship

YORKTOWN — During the regular season, a goal 26 seconds into the second half was the difference.
Saturday, the dagger was a goal with six seconds remaining in the first.
Jay County High School’s girls soccer team fell behind 2-1 late in the opening half and couldn’t swing momentum back in its favor in a 3-1 loss to the Yorktown Tigers in the championship of the Class 2A Sectional 15 tournament at Yorktown Sports Park.
“That was tough,” said JCHS coach Giles Laux, who had to fight back emotion as the two-time defending sectional champions were not able to win the program’s third title. “You never want to have that happen because the momentum swings to them for the second half. They are super pumped at halftime and you’re not. That probably hurt us a little bit mentally. We still came out strong and played tough to the end.
“Hats off to the Tigers. It is always fun to play them.”
Yorktown (11-6-1) advances to the Logansport regional, where it plays the Tigers (13-3-2) of Fishers, the defending state champions and seventh-ranked team in the state. Fishers shut out Jay County 7-0 in the regional semifinal in 2014.
Yorktown carried the momentum from the first half over into the second, pressuring the defense of Jay County (8-4-2) and goalkeeper Lilly Rogers, who finished with 10 saves.
In the 47th minute, Yorktown’s Katie Nixon rifled a shot off the cross bar, and the Tigers had multiple other shots sail over or wide of the net.
On the other end of the field, Jay County got shots on goal from both Mariah Bailey and Sophie Bader, but keeper Tyrah Bell turned them both away.
The Tigers doubled their lead with 13:28 remaining when Lizzie Smith deposited a direct kick inside the far post from the left side.
Still, Jay County kept fighting, as Stormi Canterbury had two shots on net, and Lucy Laux had a header deflect off the crossbar on a Canterbury corner.
“I think that … a bounce here or there — that header just missed off the corner — a different mindset if we could have got that,” Giles Laux said. “They stayed positive, stayed in the game.
“We talked about it before the game — no matter what happens it is 80 minutes of soccer. They didn’t quit. None of them.”
Emma Laux, one of five seniors on the team, said the ability to fight back has been a characteristic of her team throughout the season.
“That’s just what this team is about,” she said, also fighting back tears following her final game as a Patriot. “Our motto this week (was) ‘Our family is better than their team.’ Even if we lost we are still a family. We are still together and we are still going to have each other.
“I think that’s what kept us fighting today was for our sisters.”
Yorktown got the lead on the two-time champs less than five minutes into the game when Nixon sent a cross into the middle of the field that Jaylynn Chavez deflected past Rogers. The Tigers had a number of other chances from Hannah Rapp, Ashleigh Williamson and Nixon, but each were either off target or turned away by Rogers.
With 18:37 remaining in the half, Lucy Laux, the Patriots’ leading scorer with 23 goals, followed a shot by Gabbie Mann from 30 yards out that Bell wasn’t able to handle. The ball bounced off Bell’s body and out into box, where Laux beat Bell to it and hit it into the goal a split second before the two collided.
“There, was a good bounce,” Giles Laux said. “Gabbie drilled that thing and I thought it was going to go (in). That’s what we need to do is drill it at the goalie.
“Lucy crashes well and that’s what happened. Right place, right time.”
Lucy Laux and Bader each had a scoring chance later in the half, but both were saved by Bell.
Yorktown continued its pressure, setting up Rapp’s goal with six seconds left on the clock. Rogers left the goalie box to play a ball that was rolling to her. She tried to kick it away, but it deflected off Rapp toward the goal.
Jay County defender Emily Muhlenkamp sprinted after the ball to try to kick it away, but by the time she was able to get a foot on it, it had already crossed the goal line and Muhlenkamp went crashing into the net.
“I think we tried our hardest,” said Mann, whose high school career has ended but her playing career has not. The senior is committed to play at IPFW. “I feel like we still had more heart than Yorktown. Sometimes you lose, though. That’s how soccer is.
“Sometimes you’re the better team but you come out losing.”