The Seymour girls’ soccer team dominated play from the start to blank Salem 6-0 at home Saturday morning for its sixth shutout of the season.
It gives Seymour back-to-back shutouts following a 1-0 win over Bedford North Lawrence Thursday night.
Owls coach Greg Musser said he likes the way the team is performing at both ends of the field.
“We talked after Bedford what kind of an anchor the defense is,” he said. “We were able to rotate some girls in today at the back line to get some experience, and they didn’t miss a beat.
“Only giving up two shots is not bad. One of them was on a set piece or a free kick. Aidan (Hiester, goalie) made a nice save on it. Other than that we were able to clog them up and do some good things back there.”
A Salem player had a free kick from left of the goal, outside the 30 box, with 27 minutes remaining in the match. Her shot was on target but Hiester got a glove on the ball and knocked it over the goal and that was the closest the Lions came to scoring.
Seymour outshot Salem 8-0 in the first half and 24-2 for the game. Hiester had both of her saves in the second half.
Abi Beed kept the shutout in tact as she was in the net for the final 20 minutes.
Musser made some changes in the starting lineup.
“We were trying some different things, getting some girls some time and some starts, and we were rewarding some girls for doing some good things in practice and stuff like that,” he said.
“We’re in that grind of the season where we have a lot of games in a short amount of time so we wanted to make sure we’re saving some legs when we can and doing some good things, and had some nicks, some bumps and some injuries that we rested a little bit today as well.”
The Owls missed an excellent chance to light up the scoreboard at the 26:10-mark of the first half before Maddie Roark scored at 16:57, and Bailey Lykins made it 2-0 at 13:39.
Seymour scored four goals between the 21:19 and 9:15 marks of the second half to put the game out of reach.
On the first of those goals, Elizabeth Lenart dribbled the ball from midfield and shot from just outside the 18 box.
Salem goalie Allison Cauble reached out with her left hand to knock the ball away, and Bailey Lewis attempted a shot with the ball being knocked away. Alyssa Perry was on the right place at the right time and easily scored on the rebound for a 3-0 lead.
Mia Schrader, Lykins and McKenzie Bailey added goals. Roark had two assists, and Lenart and Lewis were credited with one apiece.
“It was a team effort today,” Musser said. “We talked to them about settling down a little bit, putting the ball through the middle and finding some wide spaces and I thought we did that today. We found some nice through balls, we found some good crosses and we got a couple effort plays out of Lizzie Lenart on that 70-yard run to a shot.
“Bailey Lewis was busting down the field and she crashes and gets a shot where it bounces right back to Alyssa Perry to finish. There was a lot of effort out there today. The girls played with some heart today, which is nice.”
Musser’s assistant coaches are Bob Hartman and Ryan Chandler.
“9-3-1 is a mark we haven’t experienced as coaching staff with Coach Hartman, Chandler and I,” Musser said. “Since I’ve been here this is our best record at this point in the year.
“We’re excited. Our girls are playing hard, we’re playing well, and we’re not letting up. It says a lot about their character.”
Seymour will play host to Jennings County Tuesday night with the girls playing at 5:30 PM, followed by the boys varsity match.
“They beat us 1-0 last year,” Musser recalled. “It should be a good showdown. We’re hoping for a good crowd.”