Members of the Wheelersburg Lady Pirates celebrate their Southern Ohio Conference girls soccer outright championship on Thursday evening, after defeating the host Minford Lady Falcons 4-2.

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

MINFORD — A year ago in mid-October, the Wheelersburg Lady Pirates fell victim to a Lexi Conkel goal-scoring clinic —six of them to be exact.

What a difference a year makes, and for the Lady Pirates, what one motivated matchup might do —and did so indeed on Thursday at the Falcons’ Nest.

Wheelersburg senior forward Bella Miller made it a first-half hat trick, the Lady Pirates posted all four of their goals in a matter of 28-and-a-half minutes, made sure Minford didn’t take advantage of an even outrageous corner kicks edge, and completed a year’s worth of waiting for Southern Ohio Conference girls soccer redemption.

That’s because the Lady Pirates seized back the SOC championship from the Lady Falcons, doubling up Minford 4-2 to spoil Sadie Hatfield’s Senior Night activities —and win Wheelersburg’s seventh all-time girls soccer league title, as the program has been in complete existence for a decade.

Wheelersburg won outright or shared the SOC in every season from 2015 thru 2019, and again took it outright two years ago.

Minford, thanks to a 7-2 rout of the Lady Pirates in last year’s meeting at Ed Miller Stadium in Wheelersburg, won their first conference crown since 2014 —the first SOC season for girls soccer.

In that contest, the junior scoring standout Conkel collected the Lady Falcons’ first six goals —a single-handed, or single-footed, blitzkrieg by one individual against an entire unit if there ever was one.

And while the Lady Pirates did gain a major measure of revenge by defeating Minford 2-1 in the Division III district semifinals, Wheelersburg waited a full calendar year for its defined SOC payback.

The 1-1 tie between the two teams a month ago in Pirate Country only sweetened Thursday’s pot, as Wheelersburg cashed in on its SOC chip —clearing any and all debt it may have amounted.

The win was also the Lady Pirates’ sixth consecutive.

So don’t tell the Lady Pirates — 12-4-1 for the regular season and 5-0-1 in the SOC — that a league title with only four teams for 2023 doesn’t mean anything.

“It means a lot and it’s what we’ve been working towards,” said Miller. “The SOC means a lot more than what everybody thinks. To us, it’s everything. It’s a lot of hard work. As a team, we’ve just improved 10 times more.”

Wheelersburg first-year head coach Kevin Powell, who took over the program for Todd Jarvis in late July, concurred.

Powell had served as an assistant in the Pirate program prior to his promotion — in early August officially.

“The girls were talking about it in practice yesterday (Wednesday), that we weren’t going to let the same thing that happened last year happen again today. We had a good gameplan for today, we executed it, and we got our payback,” said the coach.

As for that gameplan, it was scoring early and often.

The Lady Falcons’ freshman goalkeeper Addi Lemon made a penalty-kick save seven minutes in, but with 25 first-half minutes left, the floodgates finally opened.

Miller’s markers came then, again with 13:42 remaining in the opening half, and finally with four-and-a-half first-half minutes left.

Kenzie Piquet, Krista Williams and Ella Hochstetler had the respective assists, as Miller’s hat trick gave her goals 21, 22 and 23 for her senior campaign —and 64 for her career.

Wheelersburg senior Bella Miller (12) scored three first-half goals as the Lady Pirates defeated Minford 4-2 on Thursday for the Southern Ohio Conference girls soccer outright championship.

Courtesy of Patrick Phillips of Glory Days Photography

“We had to get on them fast, that’s what we were aiming for, and the girls carried out that gameplan great,” said Powell.

The offensive-oriented Lady Falcons can strike quickly, as Conkel did with 10:17 remaining in the opening half —off an Ava Cronin assist for the 2-1 deficit.

But Miller made it a two-goal lead again — in a matter of less than six minutes.

“A hat trick in the biggest game of our season. Bella stepped up and that’s what senior captains do,” said Powell.

“Everything is about execution. We do it in practice, and executing in a game is 10 times more important than what we do in practice,” added Miller. “To get those three right off the bat in the first half was exciting.”

Speaking of right off the bat, junior forward Mia Vastine made it 4-1 in the second half —with only three minutes and 26 seconds gone by.

The speedy striker Vastine gathered a ball in the Pirates’ defensive half, weaved her way up the left side to the middle of the pitch, crossed midfield, sprinted directly at Lemon, and ultimately rocketed a one-timer past her.

“Mia is our workhorse in the middle of the field. I don’t know how she drove down the middle all that way, but credit to our other forwards Bella (Miller) and Ella (Hochstetler) were both making runs on the outside at that point, so the defense has to respect them,” said Powell. “Mia took advantage of that and just kept going and knocked it in.”

Of Wheelersburg’s 17 total shots, all but one were on goal, as Lemon made a dozen saves —with a shutout for the first 15 minutes, followed by another in the closing 36:34.

But Burg junior keeper Amber Blevins was even more up to the task.

Wheelersburg’s Layni Greenhill (1) battles Minford’s Ava Cronin (2) in front of the Wheelersburg net during Thursday’s Southern Ohio Conference girls soccer match at Minford High School.

Courtesy of Patrick Phillips of Glory Days Photography

She made nine stops, starting with one in which she dropped to her knees — near the top of the goalbox with 26:25 left in the opening half.

A mere minute and 22 tics later, the Lady Pirates were on the board —and their domination was under way.

While Wheelersburg did not have a single solitary corner kick, the Lady Falcons couldn’t convert any of their hefty 11 —a credit to both Blevins and the Lady Pirates’ defensive efforts.

“What makes our defense so successful is definitely communication,”said Blevins. “Our communication tonight definitely helped us. I thought we played a very good game collectively.”

Individually, Blevins begins —and ends —Burg’s defense.

“Amber is one of the top keepers in the Southeast District, hands down,” said Powell. “For a girl that just started soccer last season for the first time in her life, she has been fantastic.”

The only other Lady Falcon counter was Conkel’s penalty kick with four minutes remaining.

That gave her 29 goals for the season, and now 97 for her decorated Minford career.

Minford junior Lexi Conkel (11), who scored both of the Lady Falcons’ goals on Thursday, chases down a loose ball during their match against Wheelersburg at Minford High School’s Soccer Complex.

Courtesy of Patrick Phillips of Glory Days Photography

The loss left the Lady Falcons for the regular season at 9-5-2 — and 4-1-1 in the SOC.

“We didn’t play our game tonight and Wheelersburg did,” said 10-year Minford coach Shane Tieman. “Credit goes to Wheelersburg. We just didn’t play well and they deserved to win.”

A win, and league championship redemption, a full calendar year in the making.

Both squads will now host Division III sectional championship bouts on Wednesday at 6 p.m. —with the third-seeded Lady Falcons facing Peebles and the fourth-seeded Lady Pirates playing Northwest.

* * *

Wheelersburg 3 1 —4

Minford 1 1 —2

W — Bella Miller (Kenzie Piquet assist), 25:03, 1st (1-0 W)

W — Bella Miller (Krista Williams assist), 13:42, 1st (2-0 W)

M — Lexi Conkel (Ava Cronin assist), 10:17, 1st (2-1 W)

W — Bella Miller (Ella Hochstetler assist), 4:34, 1st (3-1 W)

W — Mia Vastine (unassisted), 36:34, 2nd (4-1 W)

M — Lexi Conkel (penalty kick), 4:08, 2nd (4-2 W)

SHOTS —Wheelersburg 17, Minford 19

SHOTS ON GOAL — Wheelersburg 16, Minford 11

SAVES — Wheelersburg 9 (Amber Blevins), Minford 12 (Addi Lemon)

CORNER KICKS — Wheelersburg 0, Minford 11

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on X @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved