Fairbanks keeper Weston Lorenz (right) stops a shot by Marysville’s Ryan Walters Saturday afternoon. The Monarchs defeated the Panthers, 4-1.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
JJ Rigsby (26) of Marysville pursues the ball against Fairbanks’ Cade Feller (8), Joey Ziegler (3) and Wyatt Rausch (22) on Saturday. Rigsby scored three goals during MHS’ 4-1 triumph.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Lillian Dean of Fairbanks moves the ball against Wellington on Saturday. The Lady Panthers fell, 3-2.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
A Union County battle highlighted a varsity doubleheader of soccer at Fairbanks High School on Saturday.
The Marysville boys ran their record to 5-3 by beating FHS, 4-1, during the opener.
The nightcap saw the Lady Panthers fall 3-2 to Columbus Wellington.
MHS-FHS
JJ Rigsby tallied a hat trick (three goals) for the Monarchs.
He notched his first score against Panther keeper Weston Lorenz with 28:52 remaining in the opening half.
Marysville controlled possession of the ball and field position for much of the initial stanza.
Lorenz came up with a handful of saves as the half neared its midway point.
Monarch keeper Grant Kaifas cleared the ball as the timer reached 12:25.
The Panthers, however, tied the game with 10 minutes left until the break.
Owen Herbst sent the ball over Kaifas’ outstretched arms for a 1-1 stalemate.
The teams swapped possessions as the score remained deadlocked at the turn.
Rigsby ended the draw slightly less than two minutes into the second half with another score that gave the Monarchs a 2-1 edge.
He finished his hat trick with another goal, this time with 19:40 remaining in the contest.
The timer had eclipsed 14 minutes left in the game when Marysville (which will host Central Crossing on Tuesday) added an insurance score.
Nick McIntosh booted the sphere past FHS keeper Greg Dean for a 4-1 lead.
The teams exchanged possessions down the stretch as the Monarchs walked off the field as the winners.
“I liked our resilency this afternoon,” said MHS head coach Terry Smith. “We recovered well after Fairbanks scored the goal to tie the game.
“This was our third game in seven days and we’ve had to play through a long, hot week.”
Although pleased with the win, Smith acknowledged there are areas in which his squad needs work.
“We have to become more consistent with our touches on the ball and correct some passing mistakes,” he said.
The Panthers (who will play at Bellefontaine tonight) slipped to 1-5-2 with the setback.
“By design, we play games like this against tough, bigger programs,” said FHS head coach Matt Humphrey. “This was our fourth game against a Division I opponent and it’s those games that show us where we are as a team as we prepare for the Division III tournament.
“We still need to correct some passes and bad first touches on the ball.”
Humphrey was pleased with the work of Joey Ziegler, Herbst, Nate Vollrath, Sam Keller and Brendan Baker.
“Marysville made some complex runs on the goal and I think we did a good job on some of them,” he said.
Kaifas finished the day with four saves, while Lorenz turned away eight Monarch shots on goal.
FHS-Wellington
The Jaguars scored the first two goals on the Lady Panthers, who are ranked as the No. 1 Division III girls squad in the Central District.
FHS also went into the game ranked sixth in the state poll.
Maddie Morosky got the ball past FHS keeper Avery Groves with 33:11 left to play in the opening half.
Her sister, Mary, did the same about four minutes later to give Wellington a 2-0 lead.
Rebecca Dean and Emma Cook of Fairbanks both had shot attempts as the clock neared the halfway portion of the opening stanza.
Those offerings, though, were turned away by Jaguar keeper Lena Grovofsky.
The Lady Panthers broke their scoring ice with a little more than 17 minutes left until the break.
Wellington was called for a foul inside the scoring box.
Cook lined up the penalty kick and blasted the ball past Grovofsky for the score.
The Jaguars maintained a 2-1 edge at halftime.
The Lady Panthers tied the game early in the second half on a goal by Samantha Adkins.
Wellington took a 3-2 lead with approximately 10 minutes remaining in the game when the Lady Panthers were called for a handball.
Maddie Morosky got the sphere past Panther keeper Avery Groves for the go-ahead score.
Fairbanks (which will travel to Grandview tonight) appeared to tie the contest at three-all when Adkins drilled the ball into the net.
Some controversy followed, however, when the officials ruled the play should have been an indirect kick, instead of Adkins’ direct kick.
“Wellington had been called for obstruction,” said FHS coach Randy Spain. “There needed to be contact between players for a direct kick to be attempted.
“There was no contact and the officials said it should have been an indirect kick,” he said. “Because of that, they called off the goal.”
The Panthers had opportunities to win as they outshot the Jaguars.
Grovofsky turned away 14 Fairbanks shots on goal.
Groves tallied five saves.
“We had opportunities to score, but couldn’t put the ball away,” said Spain. “The girls worked hard, but when you’re ranked as highly as we are, everybody is going to bring their best game at you.”
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