Seymour’s Queizali Lopez left, and Alessandra Dominguez right, move the ball down the field for the team on Saturday afternoon.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Kenzi Henkle has the ball during the match with South Dearborn on Saturday.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Ella Brock delivers the kick during the game with South Dearborn on Saturday morning.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Katy Roark moves the ball during her first game back from an injury for the Owls on Saturday.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Seymour’s Rochiely Zarate-Gibson moves between two defenders on Saturday against South Dearborn.
Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune
Coach Greg Musser said he likes the improvement he has seen from his Seymour Lady Owls soccer team the last half of the season.
“Our defense has come a long way,” he said after the Owls lost to South Dearborn 2-0 on a hot home field on Saturday morning.
“Since the Jeffersonville match (Sept. 3) the defense has really improved. This was a 1-0 match until they scored with 42 seconds remaining.”
The Knights took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Ashland Garland at 26:45 of the first half.
Jenna Hufford added an insurance goal with 42 seconds remaining in the match.
Some of the outstanding defense Musser talked about came with about 10 minutes left in the first half when the Knights attempted three straight corner kicks in a one-minute span but were denied by the Owls.
Two minutes later the Knights had another corner kick, and the Knights recovered the ball and had a kick from inside the box, but the Seymour defense rose to the occasion and cleared the kick out of the danger zone and the score stayed 1-0.
Musser said he felt like the Owls turned up their intensity, especially in the midfield, as the match wore on.
“As the game went on, we settled in and played more aggressively. Our defense became more organized,” he said.
The Owls had three shots on goal with Rochiely Zarate-Gibson attempting her team’s first shot at 27:30.
The Owls had a free kick with 37 minutes remaining in the second half, but the ball was stopped by the Dearborn defense, and the Knights had a free kick with 32:30 remaining that was stopped by the Owls’ defense.
The Owls were coming off one of their best performances of the season, a 5-0 Hoosier Hills Conference win at Bedford North Lawrence Thursday night in which Kenzie Henkle scored three goals.
Seymour keeper Maggie Calhoun had 10 saves against the Knights.
The Owls had two shots in the second half.
“I love the fight our girls continue to show,” Musser said. “These girls are showing up, they are ready to play, they are ready to work, and you can see the small, little improvements that they are making from the practices that we have had (in September). The kids have shown a lot of heart.”
Musser said it was good to see junior striker Katy Roark return to action as she had been sidelined because of an ankle injury.
She entered the match with 28:40 left in the first half, and soon after she came into the game in the Owls advanced the ball inside the 30 before losing possession.
The Owls are 2-11 and will travel to Jennings County Tuesday night and will host Franklin on Saturday morning.