Staff report
XENIA — Sidney and Xenia battled to a scoreless tie in high school boys soccer action Tuesday night, leaving the Yellow Jackets 1-0-1 on the season.
“This was our first real physical test of the season,” said Sidney first-year coach Daniel Wicks. “Xenia is a very physical team with several very talented players. It took my boys a good portion of the first half to adapt to the nature of the game, but they adapted very well.
“The game could have swung either way at any point,” he added. “I thought we had the better chances in the first half, but I thought Xenia had the better chances in the second half.”
Sidney goalie Ben Snavley pitched the shutout, finishing with six saves.
“Props to our defense, including Mason Page, Bradley Burden, Dylan Vonderhuevel and Elliott Wilson, along with Ben Snavley,” he said. “We have some areas we need to continue to develop and improve on, but this result was a step in the right direction.”
Cavs edged 4-3
GREENVILLE — Lehman opened its season Tuesday night with a trip to Greenville, and dropped a back-and-forth contest by a 4-3 final.
“I warned the team late last week that we should not underestimate Greenville,” said Lehman coach Tom Wiseman. “They are a Division II school that hadn’t beaten us in a while, and would be gunning to hang a loss on us. Even though we looked better in overall statistics, they unfortunately proved me right at the end. They just wanted it more than we did.”
Lehman was led by Jake Emrick, who had two of Lehman’s three goals and added an assist. Senior captain Alex Wiseman also scored for the Cavaliers.
Lehman had 24 shots to 15 for the Green Wave, and sophomore keeper Ryan Goettemoeller recorded seven saves for the Cavs in his first-ever start in the net. Greenville’s keeper had 16 saves.
“That’s the most shots we’ve taken in a while, but also the most we’ve allowed in quite a while,” said Wiseman. “We hit frame much better than in the preseason (16 shots on target), but almost all of them were straight at their goalie. After the first 25 minutes, we held possession about 60 percent of the time but when you only hit 13 percent of your shots and your opponent doubles you up at 26 percent, you’re going to lose almost every time.”
Lehman is back in action Saturday at Lincolnview in Western Ohio Soccer League action.
Trojans roll 10-0
LAFAYETTE — The Botkins Trojans rolled to an easy win in their season opener, blanking Allen East 10-0 in action Tuesday night.
The onslaught was led by Caleb Hamby, who finished with four goals and one assist.
Brandon Cottrell had two goals and an assist, Bryce Swank had two goals, Nolan Greve and Joe Shuga added one goal apiece and Jake Barnett had two assists.
Keeper Ethan Butcher had three saves.
“It was a good game for us,” said Botkins coach Kevin Lynch. “I didn’t expect Allen East to be real good, and we dominated the whole game. We had ten corner kicks to none for them.”
The Trojans are back in action Sataurday at home against Franklin-Monroe.
Lakers down Knoxville
Indian Lake defeated New Knoxville in boys action Tuesday, 4-1.
New Knoxville’s goal came from Jace Kuck.
The Rangers, 0-2, are at St. Marys Thursday.
