CHILLICOTHE — The Division V regional semifinal at Herrnstein Field in Chillicothe became the final destination of the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs’ 2024 season on Tuesday.

Unable to gain momentum on offense, the Lady Mustangs lost to the Minford Lady Falcons by a score of 3-1 as all the scoring came in the first half.

Earlier this season, in the season opener, LCHS lost to Minford 2-1.

“It’s very similar to the first game we played in the regular season,” Lynchburg-Clay head coach Dennis West said. “Minford is coming at you with a lot of speed and tenacity up front. I saw that again tonight.

“They’re just fast and physical and they just keep the pressure on you from the beginning to the end of the game and that’s what happened tonight. We didn’t play bad, but we just couldn’t do anything, really, to sustain any kind of offense.”

The scoring started early with Lynchburg-Clay taking a 1-0 lead off a Minford own goal on a save that came back with 31:44 left in the first half.

From there, it was all Minford scoring in the first half, with the score tied at 1-1 on a goal by Minford’s Lexi Pendleton with 25:59 left in the first half.

A Minford goal followed in the left corner of the net with 18:02 left in the first period on a shot by Maggie Risner assisted by Sadie Tieman.

The 2-1 lead then went to a two-goal lead when Lexi Conkel put the ball — on a hard shot — into the back of the net with 3:55 left for a 3-1 Lady Falcon lead on a pass from Risner, as that was the score as time ran out in the first half.

The first half also saw LCHS have a few more scoring opportunities, but the shots fell short and were stopped by the Lady Falcons defense.

LC also had a corner kick with 4:17 left in the first half, but it was also stopped by Minford’s defense.

Once halftime was over, the second half was scoreless for both teams as each team had opportunities to add to their share of the scoreboard, but each defense stepped up and didn’t allow a goal.

In the second half, LCHS had a corner kick chance at 30:55, but was again denied from the goal by the Minford defense.

Seniors for the Lady Mustangs are Addie Downing, Jayden Maxfield, Aubrey Slack, Miranda Smith, Olivia Van Fleet, Allie Waits and Haidyn Wolfe.

“It’s just tough on the seniors,” West said. “This group is very close. I told them in the huddle after the game that they showed a lot of leadership, especially the younger kids on the team.”

The senior class was part of four district champion teams and played in four regional tournaments.

“You don’t see many schools go to one (regional tournament), let alone four,” West said. “The only ones that didn’t go to regionals were the freshmen, and now they can check that off their bucket list because now they went to it.

“We have expectations and they live up to them, and when they work hard like they do all year, that’s where you end up. Unfortunately for us, it didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but then again, we’re one of 16 state Division V teams to make it here, so you can’t get too hung up on this guy of response from the children.”

The Lady Mustangs’ ’24 season included them adding another Southern Hills Athletic Conference championship with a 5-0-1 conference record, extending their SHAC undefeated streak (including ties) to 98 consecutive games.

“They far exceeded what a lot of people thought they would be able to do this year,” West said. “We graduated two really big classes the last two years and four all-state players from those two classes and it’s hard to replace them.

“I think a lot of people looked at it and thought, ‘Well, it’s going to be a year where we don’t have high expectations,’ but that wasn’t the case. This group played hard, won another SHAC title, won another district title, and I’m just proud of them. They worked hard.”

This season, the Lady Mustangs have scored 59 goals and allowed 24. With Tuesday’s win, Minford improves to 17-2-0 overall.

Lynchburg-Clay finishes with an overall record of 11-7-2.

“We’ve had teams in the past where you’ve had little clicks here, there and there, and that’s tough. Those are really tough years to coach,” West said. “But we didn’t have any of that with this group. They work well together and it showed.”

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