SPORTS

Soccer girls fall to Xenia team

The Yellow Springs High School girls soccer team lost a game Tuesday, Oct. 1, against Metro Buckeye Conference rivals Xenia Christian, the final score 0–2. Coach MacKenzie Reynolds said, “The game was well-played on both sides and the teams were pretty evenly matched. We just couldn’t catch up.”

She also cited excellent performances by freshman Stephanie Goode (forward), junior Amy Erickson (sweeper) and sophomore Emily Foubert (center halfback). Xenia scored their first goal only three minutes into the first half. The other goal took place midway through the second half.

The Lady ’Dogs also played Cincinnati Christian on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

YSHS Powder Puff

The Yellow Springs High School Class of 2003 invites the community to the annual YSHS Powder Puff Football Classic on Friday, Oct. 11, at 6 p.m., at the YSHS football field. The ladies of the 2003–04 classes will battle the ladies of the 2005–06 classes. This will be the first time the powder puff football game is played in the evening. Admission is $1 for students and $2 for adults.

For more information, contact Mrs. Christopher at 767-7224.

YSHS boys soccer—

Three more wins, still undefeated in season

The Yellow Springs High School varsity boys soccer team continued to dominate the field last week, blazing their way through three games to up their record to 9–0–1.

Tuesday, Oct. 2, YSHS hosted Metro Buckeye Conference opponents Ridgeville Christian, who had suffered their first loss of the season only three days earlier. The Bulldogs provided their second, starting with David Suzel sending a left flank pass to Duncan Silvert-Noftle, who maneuvered past 40 yards’ worth of Lions, defense to net the ball from five yards out. Less than a minute later Martin Bakari increased the lead to 2–0 when, with his back turned to the goal from 15 yards out, he spun with the ball past the defenders and lobbed his shot over the goalkeeper’s fingertips. Anthony Brandon finished the game with a goal assisted by Michael Hosket. The Bulldogs shut out Ridgeville, 3–0.

Less than 24 hours later YSHS hosted the Golden Eagles of Madison Plains in a rescheduled match from the previous week. Noah Woodburn was the first to connect for the ’Dogs, three minutes into the first half with a 20-yard shot and an assist from Matt Wallace. Five minutes later, Scott Keyes picked up an assist when he got the ball to Aaron Zagory on a corner kick. Zagory sent a shot sailing across the penalty box, landing it just inside the far post to put the Bulldogs up 2–0.

Silvert-Noftle, one of the lead goal-scorers for the team, then performed an amazing ninety second hat-trick. He made the first goal after intercepting a goal kick, the second off an assist from Mike Mucher, and the third assisted by Keyes. Three minutes later, Brandon, who was tripped outside the Madison Plains’ penalty box, took a free kick and booted the ball past the far post to bring the YSHS team up to 6–0. Brandon picked up another goal five minutes later, firing the ball into the nets from 10 yards out. John Grubbs then increased the lead with an assist from Bakari. Nathan Badger closed out the first-half, scoring when Silvert-Noftle delivered a pass from mid-field through the legs of a defender to Badger, who dribbled to goal. YSHS led at the break, 9–0.

The second half turned out to be more target practice for the Bulldogs as Michael Hosket scored with an assist from Grubbs. Four minutes later, Hosket picked off a goal kick to score again. Two minutes later, Hosket provided an assist to Wallace, who spun past defenders to put the score at 11–0. Zagory got his second goal of the night as he took control of a loose ball. Two minutes later, it was Suzel who took another dropped ball. Four minutes later, Hosket got a hat trick of his own with an assist from Wallace. In the final minutes, Brandon and Rory Hotaling put two more in for good measure, the latter on a rebound from Cody Johnson’s shot on goal. The final score was an unprecedented 17–0 shut out, which translates to a goal every five minutes and twenty seconds.

Finally, last Saturday, Oct. 5, the ’Dogs travelled to West Liberty Salem where they took down the Tigers, 2–1. In the first 10 minutes, Woodburn picked up two goals. The first came off Scott Keyes’ shot on goal, which Woodburn rebounded. The second came when Woodburn rebounded a shot by Mucher. West Liberty’s only goal came from a penalty kick, after Yellow Springs was cited for pushing.

The MBC winner will be decided tonight (Thursday) when YSHS travels to the Miami Valley School, starting at 5:00 p.m.

Volleyball team wins matches

The YSHS Volleyball Team played two matches last week and won both, bringing the team to seven wins in a row.

On Tuesday, Oct. 1, the Lady ’Dogs, coached by Shirley Martin, easily overtook Xenia Christian, 15–8, 15–4.

Their next match, Monday, Oct. 7, turned out to be one of the hardest wins they have had this year. Their competition, Cincinnati Christian, had previously been badly beaten by YSHS. This time, a roaring Senior Night crowd cheered Cincinnati on to an early 7–0 lead. The Lady ’Dogs made several minor errors in the beginning of the first game, but rebounded, thanks to a game-saving dig by Nikki Daegele. The YSHS team struggled up until the end of the game. The final score was 17–15.

The second game was also close. The ball went to Cincinnati just as the score was 14–11, in YSHS’ favor, and Cincinnati went on to win, 14–16.

The final game saw strong back-court play by Janell Martin and seven kills by Emma Robinow, which finally led the Lady ’Dogs to victory, 15–8.

The YSHS team is 14–5 for the season overall, and 10–1 in the Metro Buckeye Conference. Wednesday, they hosted the Southwest Ohio League Champions, Stivers, in the last home match of the season. Tonight (Thursday) they play for a share of the league title in a season-ending match with Troy Christian, the only MBC team to defeat YSHS this year.

FC Springs plays well at Cincinnati tournament

FC Springs, the Miami Valley Youth Soccer Association team, competed in the Cincinnati Fall Ball Tournament last weekend. The team tied two games and lost one.

Falling behind the Sycamore Arsenal early in the second half, the Springs bounced back to even the score 1–1 late in the game. Alexis Onfroy-Curley sent a corner kick into the goal mouth, which Ben Armstrong shot through a crowd of defenders to score the tying goal.

In their second game of the day, the Springs fell to eventual group winner LFC Classic from Lexington. Coach Bob Curley singled out the inspired play of Todd Sheets as goal-tender. However, the Springs lost, 0–3.

Sunday morning, the Springs challenged the Marietta Hornets. Midway through the first half, the Hornets scored the first goal of the game. The Yellow Springs team came back when Onfroy-Curley found Armstrong again with a corner kick into the goal mouth. Early in the second half, the Hornets took the lead again after some miscommunication by the FC Springs’ defense. Minutes later the Springs regained the lead when Armstrong broke away from mid-field on a fast break to goal. Armstrong scored on a shot from 30 feet out, sending the ball flying over the goal-tender’s head and into the back of the nets. The game ended at 2–2.

FC Springs return to their regular season schedule with two games this weekend. First, they’ll play a home game Saturday, Oct. 12, versus the Tipp City Comets ’89 at 1:30 p.m. Then on Sunday, Oct. 13, at Piqua they’ll take on the Piqua Warriors ’89, starting at 2:00 p.m.

Cross country—

YSHS, McKinney runners place third at MBC meet

The weather at the Metro Buckeye Conference Cross Country Championships last Friday, Oct. 4, was horizontal rain and ankle-deep mud. Yet, the Yellow Springs High School cross country team still managed to get two of their runners named to the All Conference Team based on their finishes within the top seven positions. Freshman Tina Peters finished third in the girls 5K with a time of 23:36. Freshman Cary Dixon, running in the boys race, finished fifth with a time of 19:17. Although the times were significantly slower than the times they had run on other courses, Coach Vince Peters said that due to the weather, lower times would be expected.

Tina Chen was the only other girl running for the team, finishing the course in 29:57 to take 12th place. The Yellow Springs team lost All Sports Championship points because of a requirement that a team have at least five girls running.

For the boys, David Warren kept pace with Dixon for much of the race. The sophomore, having trouble with the muddy conditions, finished eighth at a final time of 19:29, leading the second team All-Conference Squad. Close behind him was Team Captain Travis Dean. Dean, who had previously been unable to run due to injuries for the past five weeks, finished 12th with a time of 21:34.

Matt Carr came in 18th at 22:24. Martin Borchers completed the scoring for the Bulldogs at 23:22, taking 23rd place. Christian Periera came in 30th place out of 42 runners with a final time of 24:36 for the 3.1 mile course.

The YSHS team took third out of eight conference schools with 56 points.

Junior High—

The stormy weather also took its toll on the McKinney harriers, but the Yellow Springs team took three of the top four places nonetheless. Leading in the beginning of the race, Andy Peters slipped into the Shawnee Creek. Despite having to swim out of the swollen creek, Peters managed to catch up with his teammates at the head of the pack.

Sam Borchers, winner of four of five races this year, overtook a Xenia Christian runner to take first place, with a final time of 12:32. Peters, after the unfortunate accident, rebounded to take third place with 13:01. Following closely was Andy Sontag, who took fourth with a final time of 13:25.

Bringing up the rear for the YS boys team were Matthew Mannetta, in 28th place with 17:12, Zach Reichert, with 30th in 17:42 and Pete Lovering in 31st place. Rosa Dixon, running for the girls, finished in 17:17. Lara Donelly finished 10th with 19:55.

Matching their high school counterparts, the McKinney Bulldogs also placed third as a team. Their season record now stands at 18 wins and 12 losses.

Coed soccer team wins one of two

The Yellow Springs High School coed junior varsity soccer team received help from several of the girls JV soccer players in two games this past week.

On Tuesday, Oct. 1, the coed team traveled to Dayton to challenge the Dayton Christian Crusaders, who defeated them 0–5.

The extra help came in handy on Saturday, Oct. 5, however, when the coed Bulldogs took on the West Liberty Salem Tigers. Matt Wallace scored the only goal of the first half just 38 seconds into the match with an assist from David Suzel. One and a half minutes into the second half, Anthony Brandon netted the ’Dogs’ second goal of the evening, with an assist from Rory Hotaling. With 23 minutes left in the game, West Liberty scored their only goal of the night when Bulldog goalkeeper John Pamplin temporarily lost sight of the ball in the setting sun, finding it again too late to keep it out of the net.

Six minutes later Brandon and Hotaling combined again to put the game out of reach for the Tigers as Hotaling threaded a pass through the Tiger defense. Brandon picked up the pass and took a shot at the net, which rebounded off the goal post. Brandon next rebounded his own shot to finish the game with a victory for Yellow Springs. The final score was 3–1.

Go Bulldogs!