Abigail Hinkle (left) moves the ball up the field for Highland in their 5-0 Tuesday tournament win over Heath in girls’ soccer.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
An early goal staked Highland to a lead in their home Division IV sectional girls’ soccer contest against Heath. A late flurry of scores clinched the win for the Scots as they claimed a 5-0 decision over their guests.
Highland opened Tuesday night’s scoring with a goal by Lillian Jones that was scored off an Anna Jones’ corner kick to lead 1-0 at the 33:24 mark of the first half. Scot head coach Megan Dever noted that score was nice to see, as it came off a play the team had been trying to execute successfully all season.
“That was actually a corner kick off a play that we’ve worked on all season and that was the first time it was successful for us, too,” she said. “Not only was that a great first tournament goal, but it also was kind of a great goal for the team as in we’ve been working for that the entire season to get something off it.”
Despite dominating possession of the ball throughout the first half, that would be the only goal recorded by Highland, though. The team was unable to convert on a number of opportunities and only went into the intermission up one despite being able to control the ball and limit their opponents to barely any scoring opportunities.
In the early stages of the second half, Highland would play aggressively and get a number of looks, but still would not be able to convert those shots into scores. However, Heath still was in a 1-0 hole due to the combination of the Scots controlling the ball and the team’s goalie, Cara Chamberlain, making a couple nice saves when the Bulldogs did threaten.
That would change as the clock ticked down to the final 14 minutes of action. Lillian Jones would pick up her second goal of the contest on a long shot that went over the Heath goalie with 13:28 left on the clock.
Barely two minutes later and Highland would strike again when Bryn Orr collected ball on the rebound after a shot attempt deflected off Heath’s goalie and passed it to Anna Jones for the goal.
Orr would then make it 4-0 with a goal scored at the 5:48 mark and Lillian Jones would finish the contest with a hat trick, as she finished off the scoring in the final minute.
Dever noted that her team played faster and more aggressively as the game progressed — something they’ll have to do in order to advance in the postseason.
“They got it together,” she said. “They dug deep and they were looking to take shots finally in the second half,” she said. “We did a phenomenal job of playing the ball, but we just did it too slow. We were doing it in three, four, five touches and it needed to be a one, two touch kind of game. And that’s when they picked it up in the second half — they figured that out.”
Highland’s win over Heath moves them on in the tournament to a Thursday contest at second-seeded Columbus Academy — an opponent whom Dever expects to provide a very tough challenge.
“My team’s got to show up and play their best soccer that they’ve played this season,” she said. “Columbus Academy is going to be a phenomenal opponent. We’ve just got to show up and play our best soccer. Can’t make mistakes, can’t have mental lapses or we’re going to lose the game.”
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
