Eddie Mowen Jr. | The Register-Herald
WEST ALEXANDRIA — Donnie Hatton knows if had enough players to field both a varsity and junior varsity team this season, most of the eight freshmen who have been thrown into the fire at the varsity level would be getting acclimated to high school soccer at the junior varsity level.
However, Hatton also knows those eight freshmen are talented, and mixed with a few upper classmen, are now on the verge of helping Preble Shawnee’s girls soccer team win its second league title in three years after forcing a 2-2 tie at Twin Valley South on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
Despite feeling like his team was outplayed most of the second half, Hatton realized a tie was enough to keep the Arrows atop the Western Ohio Athletic Conference with a 5-0-2 mark.
South falls to 5-2-1 and is now tied with Newton, who was upset by Tri-County North on the same night, for second place.
“South played extremely well. I feel like they actually outplayed us,” Hatton said. “The tie was pretty much what we deserved at most. They did outplay us. They out possessed us. They outshot us. Our keeper (Jillian Murphy) kept us in the game.”
Shawnee took a first half lead on Aubrey Unger’s 17th goal of the season.
South responded with a goal from Valen Burkett, who was returning after missing the Panthers’ last four games, tied the game at 1-1
“Aubrey obviously, is Aubrey. She had a goal and Gracie (Leach) had the assist on the second goal,” Hatton said. “They (South)played really well. We were in our half field way too much. So, we’ve got a couple league games left. We have to straighten some things up. Play a little better, possess the ball a little more.”
Early in the second half, South possessed the ball on Shawnee’s side of the field and had three shots on goal within the first 10 minutes.
South finally broke through to take a 2-1 lead on a goal from Maci Arndts with 17:18 left in the game and momentum appeared to be with the home team.
But just over a minute later, senior Katie Church scored her first goal of the season for the Arrows on an assist from Gracie Leach to knot the contest at 2-2 with 16:08 remaining.
“Katie’s goal. It was really important,” Hatton said. That was big. Coming right back, because you could see the heads starting to hang and before it sunk in, that, oh, crap, we may have just lost league, we were able to able to tie it. And I felt like, once it was tied, it was pretty even. I think our team finally started to realize, hey, we still got a shot. We’re still in this. I thought after we tied it, we played even with them. But I still think they played the better soccer game.”
With the tie and Newton’s loss, Shawnee extended its lead in the standing to 1 ½ games with just three league contests remaining.
“That’s great, and that’s why I told the kids, because they played hard,” Hatton said. “It wasn’t our best game, but they did play hard.”
And with eight freshmen in the playing rotation, the Arrows are set for a bright future.
“Nothing against any of the freshmen. They’re working their hearts out. But a lot of this stuff is a learning curve to them, even at this point,” Hatton said. “They would be playing a lot of JV and some varsity if we had a JV program. We don’t have a JV program and they’re not getting the reps that we’d like to see them get, and it’s rough. I mean, they’re eight freshmen. Our goalie hasn’t played soccer in a couple years, hasn’t played goalie. She made five excellent saves. We got those eight freshmen coming for the next three years. Aubrey and Nora (Feck) will do back. (Lexi) Lebsack will be back, (we will be) losing couple seniors, but this team will be good for a while.”
For South coach Chad Newport, he felt like his team let one get away — along with a chance to win the conference title.
“I felt like we let one get away,” he said. “Against the good teams this year we’ve been having a hard time scoring. Valen just sat out four games for concussion. That was her first game back. A little rusty. We battled. We dug deep and got opportunities. We got our break. We just didn’t capitalize from there.”
Despite the loss, Newport felt his team has had a good season and they still have goals to accomplish.
“We played Shawnee 2-1 (loss) earlier in the season, 2-0 (loss) to Newton here. We were missing three starters that game. And then, you know, tonight, we’re still missing a starter, and it’s Valen’s first game back, and I thought we played pretty well. I think we’re getting better, and I think maybe we could surprise a team or two come sectional time. I guess that’s the big goal going forward now, now that we tied.”
Preble Shawnee (6-2-3) has a busy schedule ahead.
The Arrows were scheduled to play Tri-County North on Thursday, Sept. 26, then host Union County (Ind.) on Saturday. On Monday, Sept. 30, the Arrows are scheduled to travel to Eaton. They will then host National Trail on Tuesday, Oct. 1, for their sixth game in nine days.
South (8-2-2) will next play at Newton on Thursday, Oct. 3.
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowenjr.
