Lexington can't overcome slow start, falls in Division III district final
· Yahoo Sports
LEXINGTON — The Lexington Lady Lex found out the hard way the importance of starting soccer games off the right way.
In their 2-1 Division III district championship loss to Elida on Thursday, Oct. 29, Lady Lex experienced a slow start and took a little too long to get things going. The loss ended their season with a 13-4-3 record.
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“I felt like we played with a lot of nerves,” Lexington coach Buck Morton said. “We never got the ball down to our feet. We knew that this would be a different level of game just from watching them on film and seeing that they moved more athletically and played with physicality. We knew it would be a tough game, but we had to play through not great touches.”
Elida scored the opening goal off of a corner kick with 27:06 remaining in the first half and the score stood 1-0 into halftime. Lexington sophomore Jersie Palmer evened things up with 30:21 remaining when she rebounded a Morgan Harrod shot that drilled the post and bounced perfectly back to Palmer who finished the goal. Lady Lex saw two more shots go off the cross bar and one more off the post as they were literally inches away from taking the lead multiple times.
“We gave up a really soft goal on the cross. Any number of girls could have redirected that, but those things happen,” Morton said. “When we settled in and did what we have done all year long as a second-half team, we came back had three really close calls on potential goals.”
Elida took the lead for good with 18:22 remaining when Lexington was called for a late foul in the box. Lexie Good drilled the penalty kick to the upper 90 and gave Elida the lead and eventually the win.
“I just didn’t agree with the call,” Morton said. “The ball was clearly away and nothing like that was called all night long and it was awarded with a PK. I didn’t agree with that at all. We came down and the girl basically catches the ball at the end of the game, and we had almost the same thing happen on our end and the reason for no call was because the ball was away. We already set that standard, so I will have to watch it again and maybe I’ll see it differently.
“I am not putting the blame there. We have to take care of what we need to take care of in the end, but I do thing that it was more than unfortunate that it came down like that.”
Lexington finishes as the Division III district runner-up and will say goodbye to six seniors, Claire Hammer, Emilee VanGilder, Morgan Harrod, Hayley Walker, Carliann Hughes and Gabby Lay.
“At the end of the year, you look back on the good and the bad and I will always see this team as one of the most connected I have ever coached,” Morton said. “Our senior class is great and we will miss every one of them because they were always all about the game and the team. They embraced the idea that we preach as a coaching staff that everyone has to play every game like it is their senior year and buy in because you never know what is going to be next. This senior class had done that.”
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Lexington can't overcome slow start, falls in Division III district final