XENIA — The Xenia High School Buccaneers girls varsity soccer team shut out the Piqua Indians at home on the evening of Sept. 11. The Indians were unable to find their footing offensively, with the Buccaneer defenders, particularly senior Maliah Huston, sweeping up the ball with every Piqua offensive. The Bucs put consistent pressure on the Piqua defense, getting several breakaway plays and earning themselves the 3-0 win.
Most of the game took place in Piqua territory. Freshman midfielder Tatum McIntire won possession of the ball against two Piqua defenders, crossing the ball inside the box to sophomore Eliza Gregory, who sent it home for the score. For the rest of the first half, the Bucs fell into a pattern of driving up the left field, with McIntire, junior Chloe Castonguay, and sophomore Mya Diamond taking the ball almost to the box each time. Many of these drives were knocked out of bounds by Piqua defenders. Keeping the pressure up through the end of the first half, Xenia led 1-0.
Ten minutes into the second half, senior Alexis Claybaugh launched into a breakaway straight down the middle of Piqua territory, sprinting straight past Piqua’s defense. Keeper Karley Johns dove for it but wasn’t in time as Claybaugh sent the ball into the back of the net with exactly 30 minutes remaining in the game.
At a little over 18 minutes remaining in the game, a scuffle at midfield sent the ball overhead into the possession of sophomore midfielder Alayna Vela, who took the ball from the 30-yard line into the box for Xenia’s third goal of the night. The Lady Bucs got a few more breakaways during the remainder of the match, but the ball was consistently stopped by Johns on those occasions.
The Xenia girls go into their Saturday road match at Athletes In Action Field versus Legacy Christian with a 3-3-0 record.
