The Miami Trace Lady Panthers and Washington Lady Blue Lions completed the first round of play in the Frontier Athletic Conference soccer season Tuesday night with a match at Washington High School.
Miami Trace won the match, 6-0.
Miami Trace is tied atop the FAC standings with a record of 4-1.
Chillicothe defeated Jackson Tuesday, 4-2. Chillicothe is also 4-1 in the FAC.
Miami Trace held a 1-0 lead at the end of the first half.
With 25:30 remaining to be played in the first half, Tori Evans scored with an assist from Macy Creamer.
At the 33:31 mark of the second half, Becca Ratliff scored an unassisted goal.
Ratliff scored again, quickly, at the 32:25 mark. No assist was given for this goal.
With 28:02 remaining in the match, Krissy Ison scored with the assist from Ratliff.
Natalee Payton scored with 18:29 to play. Creamer had the assist.
Isabella Vanover scored the final goal of the match with an assist by Cassidy Lovett. That came with 14:23 to play.
Miami Trace was prolific on shots with 43 to two shots for Washington.
Khenadi Grubb had two saves for Miami Trace.
Taylor Smith was in goal for Washington, coming up with 19 saves.
“We played very well tonight,” Miami Trace head coach Caitlin Francis said. “We controlled the game. We weren’t able to finish many in the first half.
“We came out strong in the second half,” Francis said. “It was good to get the win tonight. We are very happy with the shutout. We’ve been trying to get more of those this year and keep our defense strong the entire game.
“I’m proud of my team,” Francis said. “It was definitely a team win. Everyone on our team got playing time tonight.”
Washington head coach Chris Chambers said that, in spite of the 1-0 score at halftime, his team could have played better.
“That wasn’t the best they could play and we were only down 1-0,” Chambers said.
“We brought the girls in at the half and I was hoping for a little more jubilation at the fact that we were only down 1-0,” Chambers said. “Knowing that we were coming off three games in a row where we put goals on the board. We were right there with them.
“In the second half, we lost all aggressiveness and all sense of what we were supposed to do on defense. It was a little disappointing,” Chambers said. “I was proud of our mid. We kept the midfield busy. There were just too many loose balls in the box that we were not aggressive enough to push out.
“We’ve got to regroup and get ready for Hillsboro who comes to town Thursday,” Chambers said. “Giving up six goals to a team like Trace, that’s not totally upsetting; it’s just being down 1-0 and losing 6-1 after the full 80 (minutes).”
Miami Trace is 7-1-1 overall, 4-1 in the FAC.
It is believed that seven wins is a new school record for the girls’ soccer program at Miami Trace.
The Lady Panthers have a key game in the FAC Thursday at home at 5 p.m. against Chillicothe.
Washington is at home Thursday to take on Hillsboro in an FAC contest at 5 p.m.
