September 11, 2003

SPORTS

Laura Garcia-Halpin stripped the ball from a Wilmington Hurricane, dribbled down the field and passed to Megan Burrick, who took a shot that went just right of the goal.

That is how the evening went as the YSHS girls soccer team could not take control of home-field advantage last Thursday, in the Lady Bulldogs’ loss to the Hurricanes, 4–1. YSHS is now 3–2 this fall.

The teams battled to a scoreless tie until just before the half, when Wilmington scored on a shot that just grazed the tips of goalkeeper Lila Jensen’s fingers.

The Hurricanes took a two goal lead 15 minutes into the second half.

Fighting back to get control of the game, the YSHS defense made a number of stops, as Lydia Gerthoffer and Teressa Carver-Halley wrestled the ball several times from the Hurricanes. Jensen made a great save when she slid feet first and hooked the ball to the ground just as a Wilmington trio came barreling through the Lady Bulldogs’ defense.

The YSHS offense got aggressive too, and Tina Chen, Erin Silvert-Noftle and Monica Erickson were able to keep the ball on the Hurricanes’ side of the field.

Then with 10 minutes left in the game, Emily Foubert, taking a 20-yard pass from Megan Burrick, held off two defenders to score the Lady Bulldogs’ only goal. Despite the cheers erupting from the stands, YSHS fell back on its heels and let Wilmington score two more goals in the last several minutes of play.

Due to several absences, eight varsity team members played in both the JV and varsity games, which exhausted the team beyond its limits, coach MacKenzie Reynolds said. Foubert, also covering for a missing player, played three different positions throughout the night.

The YSHS junior varsity won what Reynolds called “the best game I’ve ever seen,” 2–0 over Wilmington’s JV squad.

Boys soccer score big win

The YSHS boys soccer team rolled last Tuesday to an easy waterlogged win in the rain over visiting Southeastern, 15–0, to maintain an unblemished record, 5–0.

Just four minutes into the match, Noah Woodburn opened the scoring for the Bulldogs when Scott Keyes put his corner kick into the Southeastern goal mouth and Duncan Silvert-Noftle headed the ball to Woodburn, who finished his shot.

A minute later the Bulldogs were awarded a free kick 25 yards out from the Southeastern goal. Silvert-Noftle bent his shot around the defensive wall and into the goal. Two minutes later it was Woodburn knocking in the ball again, off an assist from Nathan Badger. Moments later with the roles reversed, Badger added a goal, putting back Woodburn’s dropped shot.

Midway through the first half, Michael Hosket took a throw-in deep in Southeastern’s defensive end and Silvert-Noftle nodded it in. Half-a-minute after that Cody Johnson collected his first goal of the season courtesy of Anthony Brandon. With nine minutes remaining in the first half, Woodburn shot in a loose ball in front of Southeastern’s goal. Two minutes later Keyes was tripped in the penalty box and Silvert-Noftle converted another penalty kick. Three minutes before the break, Brandon closed out the first-half scoring, with an assist from Silvert-Noftle.

Woodburn opened the second half like he did the first, by going to goal assisted by Hosket. Ten minutes later Hosket again carried the attack forward, getting the ball to Silvert-Noftle for the score from five yards out.

Midway through the second half the Bulldogs were awarded a free kick just outside of the penalty box, and to the left of the goal. With Keyes making a decoy run over the ball, Silvert-Noftle drilled his shot past a motionless Southeastern goalie. With 17 minutes remaining, Keyes broke into the scoring column off an assist by Ryan Silvert. Evan Gerthoffer sent Rory Hotaling to the goal with 10 minutes left, and Keyes closed out the scoring, assisted by Johnson.

High school cross country—
Dixon, Peters lead YSHS

The YSHS boys cross country team finished fourth out of eight teams in the Xenia Invitational last Wednesday.

Scoring 131 points, the Bulldogs trailed Bellbrook, which won the meet with 46 points. Greenon finished second with 56, followed by Xenia with 91.

Three days later, the Bulldogs placed 8th out of 21 teams at the Xenia Christian Invitational. Springboro won the meet with 68 points, followed by Cincinnati Walnut Hills and West Liberty Salem, who tied for second with 75. The Bulldogs scored 179 points.

Conditions were not ideal for running on Wednesday at the Greene County Fairgrounds, Xenia’s home course. Sophomore Carey Dixon led the pack for a large portion of the three-mile race, and placed seventh in 18:38. David Warren finished fifth in 18:22, and Sam Borchers came in 10th in 19:17. Zach Reichert placed 54th, while Matthew Maretta finished one spot behind.

Xenia Christian’s course on Saturday presented a difficult and very hilly run, causing many runners to finish over a minute longer than usual.

Competing against 130 runners, Dixon finished sixth overall in 18:45. Borchers came in 10th in 19:03, and Warren placed 13th in 19:16.

“Those three guys did an outstanding job,” coach Vince Peters said. “They’re all in the Top 10 in Dayton-area Division III cross country runners.”

Though the YSHS girls did not have enough runners for a complete team, three individual runners competed in both meets. On Wednesday, sophomore Tina Peters, who injured an ankle, ran her first race of the year, and finished in seventh place in 22:56. Hillary Livingston was 44th and Romina Aguero, 49th.

At Saturday’s meet, Peters placed 14th out of 81 girls, in 23:24. Livingston was 64th and Aguero finished 79th.

Volleyball team perfect in MBC

The YSHS volleyball team bounced back from its first loss of the fall last Wednesday to defeat Middletown Christian for the second time this year.

The Lady Bulldogs are now 2–0 in the Metro Buckeye League and 4–1 overall.

Northridge handed YSHS its first loss of the year last Wednesday, 15–9, 15–4.

The Lady Bulldogs were led by Katie Lovering, Heather Wagers, Janell Martin, Evin Wimberly and Arla Smith.

YSHS pulled out a tough win a day later, knocking off Middletown Christian, 15–9, 14–16, 15–5. Scorers were Smith, Wimberly, Martin, Wagers, Lovering, Sarah Finn, Tricia McLinden and Alicia Walker-Garrison.

Cedarville shuts out Bulldogs

The YSHS football team lost its third game of the year, after the Cedarville Indians shut out the Bulldogs, 28–0, last Friday at home.

The Bulldogs were outplayed in the first half, but with the stands packed, YSHS was able to hold the Indians to one touchdown in the second half.

Miguel Visbal and Jordan Skinner led the Bulldog defense with 12 tackles each. Cody Johnson, Jansen Adkins and Ethan Keller recovered several Indians’ fumbles.

Jake Fulton completed only two passes, but was plagued by a number of dropped passes. Anthony Brandon rushed for 71 yards on 14 carries.

This Friday is the YSHS homecoming game, against Marion Catholic, and the last home game for the ’Dogs before they play the next five games on the road.

FC Springs wins opener over Troy

In a scoring seesaw battle, FC Springs, the local boys under-14 entry in the Miami Valley Youth Soccer Association, prevailed over the visiting Troy Trojans last Sunday, 4–3.

Early in the match ‘FC Springs fell behind when the Trojans kicked in a free kick from five yards out. Minutes later Ben Armstrong answered for the Springs with an assist from Todd Sheets. After the ensuing kickoff, Troy regained the lead with a shot from 17 yards out. Just before the half, Asa Casenhiser tied the game.

Troy took a one goal lead 10 minutes into the second half, but then Alexis Onfroy-Curley responded with a goal from 18 yards out, tying the game at 3.

With just under nine minutes left, Onfroy-Curley netted the game-winner from 12 yards out as he slipped the ball past the Trojan goalie, who had charged off of the goal line. Sheets collected the assist.

FC Springs travels to Brookville this Sunday, Sept. 14, to take on the Brookville Devils. Kickoff is at 2 p.m.