Lady Pirates handle early jitters, lay scoring barrage on Lady Falcons to take SOC title

WHEELERSBURG — After shaking off the early jitters and an early goal from Minford, the Wheelersburg Lady Pirates ripped off six-straight goals en route to a 6-1 win over the Lady Falcons to secure a Southern Ohio Conference-2 championship on Tuesday night at Ed Miller Stadium.

That anxious beginning for Wheelersburg was something Pirates’ coach Jon Estep had preached about to his team and how they needed to avoid overcoming that in big games.

"One of the things we talked about with our girls is how to be ready for big games and our mentality,” said Estep. “Tonight, we saw a little bit of nerves, and I'm not really sure why. But we fought through some of that early on and settled in."

The defenses controlled the first 20 minutes of the opening half as neither team was able to get many open looks.

Two of the early opportunities were free kicks by Minford's Sadie Tieman from striking range.

And while she missed the mark on the first attempt, her second one snuck inside the crossbar to give the Lady Falcons a 1-0 lead at the 16:07 mark of the first half.

"One of the things going into games like this is that they are always dangerous anytime they're inside the 25-yard line with Sadie (Tieman)." said Estep. "She has a great foot and does a great job on free kicks. We gave her two. She bailed us out on the first one, but the second one was a good angle, and she made a really good shot."

But eventually, Wheelersburg (9-0-1) began to warm up with an answer of their own.

Six minutes after the Tieman goal, Hochstetlar got her first open look in front of the net on a crosser, but goalie Addi Lemon was there to make the stop.

But minutes later, Hochstetler found a rebound and put the ball in the back of the net to even the score with 8:48 remaining in the opening half.

The Lady Pirates began to pepper the net with a barrage of shots from that point.

McGraw followed up with several attempts from different angles that either just missed the mark or were turned aside by Lemon. Hochstetler had another shot attempt saved by Lemon as well.

Lemon's best save in the sequence came with around three minutes left to play in the half when she made a diving stop on a point blank shot off the foot of Jordan Jolly.

But the continued pressure finally gave way to another Lady Pirates’ goal when Ella McGraw's corner kick allowed Mullens to score off a header and give Wheelersburg the 2-1 lead.

Then with 59 seconds left, McGraw pulled the trigger from up top in front of the net and drove home a shot to give the Lady Pirates a 3-1 lead at the break.

One thing Estep was particularly happy with was the play of his defense to shut down Minford's offense after that initial goal.

"Breckyn (Bivens) brings energy up and down the field wherever she goes. We've talked about having other girls match that energy, and they did. Ava's just rock solid. We all know that. Maia Weaver's done a great job controlling. Myles (Bailey), Jaidyn, Ava, Breckyn, Callie all have a great relationship there in the back, and they trust each other," said Estep.

"They are understanding how to work together to limit offensive opportunities, and some of the teams we play — they know if they can limit those — we have the firepower up front to put some goals on the board and we can do it in bunches real quick."

Wheelersburg continued to roll in the second half as a corner kick from Makenzie Mullens got loose in front of the net and Bivens was the beneficiary of it and shoved the ball into the back net to extend the lead to 4-1.

In the 43rd minute, Jolly got behind the defense and scored her first goal of the night to make it 5-1. Minutes later, Ariana Lemons bodied in the final goal to put an exclamation point on the win.

The win secured back-to-back SOC titles for the Lady Pirates, but Estep knew this was the first step in the greater scheme of things.

"It’s all eyes on the big picture, and how we can continue to get better every day in order to get to where we ultimately want to get to, and that is a SOC Championship. We checked that off,” said Estep.

“Now, it's going after a district. Let's get ready for a district and then, hopefully, it'll be getting ready for a regional run and we'll go on from there. But again, we've got a lot of work to do and the good thing is that these girls are focused on it and they want to."

Minford 1 0 = 1

Wheelersburg 3 3 = 6

First Half

Min — Saide Tieman free kick, 16:07.

Wh — Emme Hochstetlar (assist Ella McGraw), 8:48.

Wh — Makenzie Mullens (assist Ella McGraw), 2:39.

Wh — Ella McGraw unassisted, 0:59.

Second Half

Wh — Breckyn Bivens (assist Makenzie Mullens), 26:13.

Wh — Jordan Jolly unassisted, 16:16.

Wh — Ariana Lemons (assist Ella McGraw), 11:22.