Owls push toward postseason

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The lights at C.B. Hess Memorial Soccer Field have shined a little brighter this season on the Seymour boys soccer team.

On a five-game unbeaten streak, with four wins and one tie in the stretch, the Owls are peaking as their schedule boils down to the final four regular-season games.

Standing at 8-3-1, the Owls are finding ways to win in a total team effort.

Scoring, the Owls are sharing the love with 24 goals on 16 assists.

Owls senior striker Korey White and freshman Daniel Hartman each have five goals, and in the midfield, junior Renato Castillo and senior Kyle Jones each have four scores.

White and Hartman are an interesting pair up top.

White’s a tall, big-bodied attack man with a big boot and strong header, while Hartman is a tad shorter, but provides quick, sharp dribbling skills with finesse shooting.

As the season has progressed, the Owls’ midfield has improved on combination passing, resulting in more time of possession.

Like most other team sports with a running clock, whichever team maintains the longest amount of possession typically wins games.

The Owls are doing just that, holding onto the ball 55-45 or 60-40 percent to their opponents in games won.

Jones and junior Brantley Adams have largely orchestrated the midfield with the help of seniors Cole Luedeman and Martin Sebastian and sophomore Brayan Morales.

Since his red card against Providence early in the season, Jones has made a living scoring off free kicks and setting up the offense.

The Owls’ guys in the back third deserve just as much credit as the goal scorers.

Anchored by junior Griffin Sciarra and seniors Luedeman and Matthew Pyle in the defense and Austin Hatfield in goal, the Owls have given up nine goals through 12 games.

Hatfield has 61 saves in 2015 on opponents’ 69 shots on goal with two shutout victories.

Hatfield has shared time with sophomore Elliott Clark, who has shown a lot of promise in his six games with 15 saves.

The Owls’ losses have come to Class A No. 5 Providence, Class 2A top-25 Columbus East and Jeffersonville.

The previous three seasons, the Owls have a combined record of 24-23-5. The Owls haven’t eclipsed eight wins in that stretch under head coach Matt Dennis, but it looks like this season will be different.

None of the teams the Owls will face the rest of the way are currently ranked.

Tonight, the Owls host Jennings County, and they travel to Shawe Memorial on Thursday.

In the final week of the regular season, they will play Columbus North and Bedford North Lawrence.

On another note, don’t overlook the junior varsity Owls squad.

The JV team has a record of 6-2 and has largely dominated games this season.

The future is bright for the Owls program as they prepare for the Columbus East Sectional on Oct. 5.

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