Jay shuts out Heritage

The dominance over conference opponents continued.
Jay County controlled possession and field position.
The only thing it couldn’t control was the weather.
Jay County High School’s girls soccer team defeated the Heritage Patriots 2-0 in a weather-shortened game Thursday, maintaining its stronghold on Allen County Athletic Conference foes as reigning champions.
“We were ready to go at it,” said Giles Laux, whose team was credited with the victory after the game was called 2 minutes, 44 seconds, into the second half because of thunder in the distance and impending darkness. The game had been delayed more than an hour during the first half.
“It took us two or three minutes to get going,” added Laux, whose team was 3-0 in winning the conference last season and is 1-0 in league play this year. “They had some decent defenders but we, in the beginning, we just weren’t executing our passing. I think our decision-making was a little hesitant.
“I think once we started to find our feet and think a little quicker we did fine.”
The scoring chances for the host Patriots (1-1, 1-0 ACAC) came almost immediately. Irene Braun had a shot sail wide left, and Lucy Laux had two more chances as Jay County barely left its offensive zone.
Then in the seventh minute, JCHS scored its first goal of the season.
Junior Breea Liette sent a corner kick toward the box from the right side, and the ball deflected off a Heritage defender to Laux, who was standing just inside the goal box. She ripped a right-footed shot to the left side of the net for a 1-0 lead.
“Breea has good corner kicks. She has a strong foot,” Lucy Laux said. “We just all crashed the goal.”
Ten minutes later the game was delayed for 1 hour, 19 minutes, because of thunderstorms north of Portland. When both Patriot teams returned with 23 minutes to play in the first half, the defending conference champions continued where they left off.
“They knew it was a conference game, that is the key component of getting refocused,” said Giles Laux, whose team hosts Muncie Burris at 11 a.m. Saturday. “This is one step of our conference title that we wanted to keep in tact.”
As quickly as Jay County got ready to play, the offensive opportunities continued. Braun and Liette both had shots saved by Heritage goalkeeper Bria Muldoon, and Kendra Muhlenkamp also had a pair of chances turned away.
But with 9:56 remaining in the half, Muldoon couldn’t make back-to-back stops. From near the top of the 18-yard box, Braun rifled a left-footed shot that Muldoon turned away, but the deflection went to the left side of the goal box to a wide-open Liette, who buried a shot for a 2-0 JCHS advantage.
Braun’s strong leg from the left side and the number of chances she had prior to that led to Liette’s first tally of the season.
“I told (Braun) that she needs to shoot further out because she has a strong foot,” Laux said. “She has a nice look and she’s left footed. That one came off to Breea, Breea was crashing the net just like we promote (and) another good thing happened.”
The only scoring chance for Heritage came about 10 minutes before Liette’s insurance goal. A rare turnover at midfield by Jay County allowed Heritage forward Brenna Chacon to slip behind the defense. But as defender Emily Muhlenkamp chased her down, Chacon’s shot sailed wide right. Jay County goalkeeper Lilly Rogers was without a save on the night.
“It’s a better start to our season now,” said Lucy Laux. Jay County lost to Richmond on Monday, 4-0. “There are plenty of things we can work on, probably. We’ve gotten better at talking on the field. We could always work on quicker passes, sharper passes.”