The McClain Tigers soccer team visited Miami Trace High School Tuesday, Sept. 15 for a Frontier Athletic Conference match.
McClain won the match, 4-0.
The Tigers held a 2-0 halftime lead.
For McClain, Braeden Bergstrom scored the first goal of the match (unassisted) at the 15:34 mark of the first half.
With 11:14 remaining in the half, McClain converted on a loose ball in front of the Panthers’ goal.
“We just failed to clear that ball,” Miami Trace head coach Josh Thoroman said. “It bounced around inside the box for too long. It touched two or three Panthers, we just didn’t get it out. They were opportunistic and were able to get a hold of it.”
In the second half, with 25:39 remaining to be played, McClain scored on a penalty kick.
Finally, Jase Allison scored with the assist going to Bergstrom at the 12:58 mark.
McClain improves to 4-1-1 overall, 2-0 in the FAC.
“This senior class that we have at McClain, a lot of them have been starting since they were freshmen and sophomores,” McClain head coach Nick McNeal said. “We have a very senior-heavy team, a very veteran team (with seven seniors and six juniors). Something that has paid off for us lately is playing as a team. It’s not one guy doing everything, it’s everybody doing everything. We saw the impact of that tonight.
“I tried to get my fullbacks into the attacking game,” McNeal said. “We saw that with Jase Allison…he scored a goal running in. When we put our fullbacks into the offense, that really overloads (the other team). Most teams don’t do that. That’s been a big change.”
Miami Trace was missing three senior starters Tuesday night.
“We were missing our fastest kid, our strongest kid and one of our most skilled kids,” Thoroman said. “We had a lot of younger kids in there tonight and we are still feeling the growing pains, replacing eight starters from last season.”
McClain dominated in shots taken 34 to 4.
Senior goalkeeper Ethan Steele had 22 saves. McClain had seven corner kicks to none for Miami Trace.
Miami Trace is 2-5 overall, 0-3 in the FAC. The Panthers will host Hillsboro Thursday at 5 p.m.
McClain will play Chillicothe Thursday.
“That is going to be huge,” McNeal said. “Both of us are undefeated in the FAC, both of us are having good seasons.”
