Second half shutdown

The Patriots have won all three matchups against the Eagles during Kendra Muhlenkamp’s tenure.

While they didn’t manage to score, multiple close attempts in the first half implied the Patriots would continue that streak.

The second half proved to be a different story.

The Delta Eagles caught wind in the second half to take down the Jay County High School girls soccer team 2-0 on Tuesday, notching Delta’s victory since 2021.

In the first three matchups since Muhlenkamp took over at the helm, Jay County (7-5) has beaten Delta (9-3) by at least two goals. That includes a sectional game during the 2022 postseason that Jay County won 4-0.

The Patriots looked as if they would continue that trend with a strong first half, despite failing to finish a handful of potential scoring opportunities. With a new life in the second half, the Eagles took full advantage of the first-half shutout to flip all the momentum.

“My halftime speech kind of revolved on we can be better than this team,” said JCHS coach Muhlenkamp. “There was a lot of situations that we didn’t score the goals and we should have. I thought we looked dominant in the first half, but something switched. I don’t know if it was mentality. I don’t know if Delta just got some kind of extra wind that we didn’t see in the first half, but it led to them scoring 2-0.”

Delta made seven key saves against Jay County in the first half. Goalkeeper Ruth Sherck made three diving saves with two coming in the first 15 minutes and one on a shot from London Lloyd with 32 seconds remaining.

While not a save, Sherck also had a key defensive play by coming out of the goal to put pressure on freshman Raylin Hummer, resulting in her shot sailing wide left of the goal.

Another key save in the first half came from Delta’s Shelby Riggin, who cleared the ball away from the goal on a corner kick that was out of the Sherck’s reach.

With Delta owning a majority of the possession in the second half, Sherck and the defense didn’t have as much work to do to keep the Patriots scoreless, but Sarah Bohanon had a pair of nice plays in which she ran down Hummer on a 1-on-1 fast break to clear the ball before she could take a shot.

“Bohanon and Sherck back there do a great job and are kind of our rocks,” said Delta coach Mason Turner. “Sarah has always been kind of a staple in our defense and so she does a really good job of playing that center back and covering. We knew they would be trying to play some of those direct passes to get those one-on-one moments, so Sarah was well prepared and aware of that and did a good job. … 

“Ruth does a great job in the goal, making sure if Sarah gets beat, she’s coming out and working the angle. Trying to make sure she’s cutting off that shot and does a good job defensively as a goalie, getting big and saving those shots.”

    Jay County freshman Brilyn Wilmore tries to control a ball that’s headed out of bounds late in the second half of Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to Delta. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)
  

The Eagles got more quality looks at the goal in the second half. The improved control of the ball finally paid off 8 minutes, 10 seconds, into the second period.

Jordan Bunch brought the ball down the field before passing it off to Aubree Jarrells. JCHS goalkeeper Maleah Parsons came out and successfully blocked Jarrells’ shot, but Bunch continued downfield and received a pass from Nila Johnson that she put in to go up 1-0.

Two minutes later, Bunch would come up big again.

The DHS junior read the ball well off of a goal kick from Parsons, intercepting it near the 30-yard line and took a few dribbles before passing it off to Jarrells again. This time, Jarrells took advantage of a one-on-one to put the ball in the left half of the goal for the score.

“Ater they scored that goal, I just felt like we were always one step too slow for so many possessions,” Muhlenkamp said. “There was scary times, they could have scored a couple more goals. … Our mindset got shredded a little bit.”

Despite taking the loss, Muhlenkamp did point out several positives her team can take away from Tuesday. She saw her team’s aggressiveness to attack the ball improve from previous games, while also proving they can hang around with a sectional opponent.

“Obviously we didn’t get the score we wanted, but it did show us —  Delta’s a top contender in the sectional — that we can win the sectional this year,” Muhlenkamp said. It’s not like they beat us 10-0. Sometimes being the underdog in a situation, when it comes to sectional time, isn’t a bad thing. We’re going to play hungry and connect when we really have to.”

The Patriots will get to take a crack at another potential sectional opponent tonight as they travel to Yorktown. They won’t face the Mississinewa Indians or New Castle Trojans during the regular season.

Jay County will also learn on Sunday if they will get another chance at the Eagles early on, or if they will have to wait until the later rounds as the IHSAA hosts the sectional show at 7 p.m. on Sept. 29.