Seymour’s girls soccer team sent its seniors off in style in their final home game of 2017.
The Owls overwhelmed Madison 8-0 — firing 38 shots while holding the Cubs shotless — in a Hoosier Hills Conference game Monday.
While she didn’t collect a save, Owls sophomore goalkeeper Aidan Hiester tied the school record for shutouts in a season (seven) with the Seymour victory.
“We’re gelling at the right time,” Owls coach Greg Musser said. “We came out and defended our home turf. It was our seniors’ last game at home, and we wanted to send them off with some happy thoughts on this field. I think we accomplished that.”
The Owls (12-3-1) dominated the offensive third, and middle, of the field the entire game.
Seymour took a 1-0 lead when Bailey Lewis found Bailey Lykins from 10 yards for a top-shelf goal with 28:32 on the clock.
Maddie Roark slotted a left-footed goal from 16 yards with 23 minutes left in the first half.
Roark scored again at 4:58, when she hit a volley in off a cross from Lykins.
Wasting little time, Roark secured a hat-trick by scoring off an assist from Taylor Heckman at the 4:35-mark.
Roark now has three hat-tricks on the season and has 21 goals total.
With a minute left before intermission, Lewis rifled a shot from 18 yards to put the Owls up 5-0.
Roark crossed a ball to the middle to Lewis, who was standing right in front of the goal, for a score with 32:25 left in the game.
Addi Chandler scored at 21:28, and McKayla Bailey added a score at 15:52, with assists from Alyssa Perry and Lewis.
The Owls were able to play a handful of younger players the remainder of the game.
“You put them out there in some JV games, and the speed is a notch slower,” Musser said. “Getting them out in the varsity games, banging around with some of the older girls, it builds confidence.”
The Owls will finish their regular season at Columbus East Thursday.
Seymour will then be off until Sept. 28, when the Owls play the sectional hosts, Floyd Central. Seymour fell to the Highlanders 2-1 on Sept. 12.
“It gives us some time to correct some things and put in some game plans that we don’t normally do during the season,” Musser said of the week-long break ahead. “We normally like to play teams straight up and see where we fall. We know what they’re going to do, and we want to correct the little things where they got their two goals.”