Lady Pirates, Falcons gain girls soccer wins

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Girls Soccer

Wheelersburg 2, Huntington St. Joseph (W. Va.) 0

HUNTINGTON, W. Va. — It took 10 days for the Wheelersburg Lady Pirates to get back on the soccer pitch, but the Lady Pirates —picking up Huntington St. Joseph on the schedule —scored a 2-0 non-league victory on Tuesday.

The Lady Pirates are now 1-1, as they opened the season early on Aug. 12 — with a 2-1 loss at Unioto in the final minute-and-a-half.

Their non-league encounter at Peebles four days after that, another originally unscheduled contest, was canceled and will not be rescheduled.

Both Unioto and host Huntington St. Joe were late additions to the Lady Pirates’ schedule —given Southern Ohio Conference clubs West and Ironton St. Joseph did not field teams this fall.

On Tuesday, Amber Blevins pitched her first starting shutout in goal, making five saves as the keeper.

Mia Vastine, with 23 minutes to play in the opening half, scored a goal —off an Annie Coriell assist.

Jocelyn Tilley tallied an unassisted marker halfway through the second half.

The Lady Pirates play at home, and open SOC play as the defending conference champion, on Monday against Waverly.

First touch is set for 5 p.m.

Minford 4, Alexander 2

ALBANY —The Minford Lady Falcons found the net early and often against Alexander in their season opener, and added an insurance counter in the final 10-and-a-half minutes — to double up the host Spartans 4-2 last Saturday.

The young Lady Falcons scored three times in the opening 32-and-a-half minutes —all on assisted markers with cross passes.

Lexi Conkel collected a hat trick of goals, the final three Falcon points to be exact —including Minford’s only second-half goal which made it 4-2 and after Alexander scored twice a row.

Conkel’s final goal came off an Ava Cronin assist with 10:30 to go, as Conkel took a diagonal pass and one-touched shot it.

“It was a good start to the season against a strong Alexander team. There is plenty for us to work on, but we had good energy considering the heat,” said Minford coach Shane Tieman. “Good play from the scorers and passers. Strong work on the defensive side, playing team defense.”

Minford goalkeeper Nevaeh Porter posted five saves.

While Conkel netted three goals, Cronin had a hat trick for assists.

Those two hooked up the same way with eight-and-a-half minutes left in the opening half for a 3-0 advantage, when a cross to Cronin footed across to Conkel.

Cronin’s initial assist came on a Haley Knore goal only seven-and-a-half minutes in, as Knore then assisted Conkel’s first goal —at the 26:41 mark for an early 2-0 lead.

Both Spartan goals were unassisted — coming on a shot off a bad Falcon clear for the first and on a blast outside the box for the second.

Avery Shields scored the first goal at the 7:26 mark, then McKenna Moore muscled for the second with only 16:34 to play.

That made it 3-2, before the Falcons finished off the scoring only six minutes and four seconds later.

Minford 11, Fairland 1

PROCTORVILLE — Last season’s sectional championship match between these two in Division III was hotly-contested —with the Lady Falcons winning 1-0 on the home turf.

On Tuesday, in a non-league match in Fairland’s Dragons’ den, it was anything but.

But, that was good news for Minford, which steamrolled the Lady Dragons 11-1 —amassing six first-half goals and five more second-half markers to move to 2-0.

Speaking of six and five, six Falcon goals were unassisted —including five in a row and four first-half consecutive, following Knore’s two tallies off assists in the opening half of the opening half.

Cronin (29:48) and Conkel (21:54) assisted Knore — as from the 16-minute mark until halftime the Falcons got unassisted points from Conkel twice, Cronin once, and Lexi Pendleton with 35 seconds left in the half.

That made it 6-0, as Fairland’s only goal —an unassisted one by Molly Dunlap —came with 16:25 remaining.

Meanwhile, Minford picked up from where it left off —as Pendleton posted a second straight unassisted goal, with 15 minutes to play.

Knore and Conkel completed hat tricks in the second half —as Mychal Cron assisted Knore while Conkel’s came unassisted.

The final two Lady Falcon counters were both helped upon, as Cronin scored off a Cron assist with two-and-a-half minutes left —and Lyla Napier knocked one in off a Shelby Coriell pass with a minute to go.

Porter had one save for an easy night in net.

Girls Tennis

Wheelersburg 5, Valley 0

LUCASVILLE —The Wheelersburg High School girls tennis team, for the fourth time this season and for all four of its wins, won a match in a decisive 5-0 sweep.

The first three were against non-league opponents, but Thursday’s 5-of-5 display came against the host Valley Lady Indians —as the Lady Pirates are now 4-1, and 1-1 in the SOC.

Waverly, with a 4-1 win but with three matches going to the maximum three sets, won over Wheelersburg a week ago.

The Lady Pirates, in the two doubles matches, won with identical 6-1 and 6-0 scores.

Emma Brinkman and Aby Jones, at first doubles, swept Maggie Mae-Clark and Lexie Munn —while Brooklyn Howard and Avery Lowery won over Kaya Hain and Emily Wright.

At first singles, Maria Nolan netted a 6-1 and 6-2 triumph over Miracle Sammons, and Emily Janney swept second singles over Bianco Rallo 6-0 and 6-1.

At third singles, Josalynn Conley pitched a 6-0 and 6-0 shutout over Valley’s Makenna Pelphrey.

The Lady Pirates return to the road, and return to non-league action, on Saturday at Athens.

First serve is set for 10 a.m.

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