You won’t find two more evenly matched boys soccer teams around this season than Seymour and Floyd Central.
They played twice this fall and the Highlanders won 1-0 both times.
The latest battle came Monday night in the opening match of the 3A Seymour Sectional. The Highlanders won the Hoosier Hills Conference match 1-0 at Seymour on Sept. 15
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Monday night Ashton Ochsner’s goal at 5:15 of the first overtime was the only shot that went in goal during 94 minutes of action. The result ended Seymour’s season.
“That’s two 1-0 losses this year,” said Owls coach Matt Dennis. “The first one was on a free kick and this one was on a botched throw in when we didn’t quite mark up. It’s a tough one. Their coaches came down immediately after the game and said they hate playing us. We were well prepared, and I agree 100 percent.”
Dennis said he asked a lot of his team all season.
“The guys did everything I asked them,” Dennis said. “I told them after the match that I’ve been hard on them this year and I’ve pushed them. I’ve demanded more of them than maybe they’re used to, and that effort tonight, it’s my belief that is their best effort of the year. That is everything a coach could ask for. I’m proud to be their coach.”
Dennis said the Owls (5-9-2) battled to the end.
“This is what Seymour soccer is and we fought tooth and nail to the end,” he said. “I’m very proud of all of our guys. I’m proud of the effort that our seniors put forth. Isaac (Schafer), Carter (Hendrix) and Cam (Cox) put it all out there tonight.”
The Highlanders outshot the Owls 9-1 in the first half and 20-3 for the night.
Cox, Hendrix and Schafer had the shots for the Owls.
“Our transitions were fine,” Dennis said. “They had more possessions than we did. A little bit of that was by design where we sort of allowed them to have possessions. We wanted them to play the ball backwards and press high up in the field and we were able to do that and get some transitions.”
Dennis hoped the strategy would pay off in the long run.
“We had some good transitions in the middle of the field as well,” Dennis said. “Toward the end of the game I felt like they got a little bit frustrated and we were able to pounce on some missed passes that they had that they didn’t have in the first half when they were cleaner.”
Dennis noted many of the Owls’ losses were close this year.
“That final ball in that kind of eluded us this year is what we lacked tonight,” he said, “and we gave it our all.”
William Smith made several spectacular saves in goal for the Owls and had 12 saves total.
“That’s probably the best I’ve ever seen him play.” Dennis said of his keeper. “Without him it’s not even a close match. He did a tremendous job. Their coach singled him out after the game to applaud him and he should be very pleased with his effort tonight.”
Coming so close to moving on was hard to take.
“It’s a tough way to end when you fight and claw your way to the end of a match like that,” Dennie said. “Hats off to Floyd Central. They found a way to put one in the back of the net and we’ll get better from here.”
Columbus North will face Jennings County at 5 p.m. today and New Albany will battle Columbus East in the second match. Jeffersonville will play Floyd Central at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The finals are at 7 p.m. Saturday.