(Story by Coach Lance Harvey)

     The Chillicothe Lady Hornets Soccer team had a strong outing against the St. Joe Benton Cardinals, registering a 3-1 victory on Monday night.
     The Hornets opened up the scoring in the ninth minute when forward Sarah Hussey followed mishandled ball by Cardinal goalkeeper Keelie Arbuckle and pushed it into the back of the net for her first goal of the season. Chilli took advantage of a strong tailwind and put together several scoring opportunities which culminated in a goal by freshman forward Lindy Saunders at the 27 minute mark of the first half.
     Saunders struck again three minutes later as she ran onto a beautiful pass out of the midfield , settled the ball and hit a hard shot past the frozen keeper. The Lady Hornets pressured the rest of the half but were not able to score again as the half expired.
     The second half was a different story as Benton, with the wind now at their backs and aided by the return of suspended forward Savannah Domann, sent several long, dangerous passes into the Chillicothe area. Fortunately, the defensive unit played strong fundamentally and goalkeeper Brooke Jettleson posted six of her nine total saves in another solid outing.
     As the clock clicked down to full time, the play became increasingly rough. The Lady Hornets withstood the aggressive onslaught of the Cardinals and were about to collect their second shut out of the season when Chillicothe was called for a suspect penalty in the final minute, thus awarding Benton a penalty kick which was converted by forward Paige Neale. Time soon expired and the Hornets left victorious, evening their record at 2 and 2.
     Coach Lance Harvey noted that outside midfielder, Brooke Thomas, played a phenomenal game, pushing the ball up field and spreading the defense. Overall the effort put forth by all the players was outstanding.
     “Coach D and I breakdown each game and both of us have seen marked improvement since the beginning of practice. These girls are very coachable and they really work to implement the things we teach in practice into their games.”