Soccer battles to scoreless tie in league opener

The Lady Pioneers’ first District 7-AAA game of the season ended in a 0-0 tie Tuesday afternoon. Warren County traveled to Oakland for a district showdown with the Lady Patriots, but team’s keeper held on for the shutout.

In the first half, shot attempts were even as each team had three opportunities to score. Dakota Tinney, Shea Hyatt and Stacey Rampp had one shot each for the Lady Pioneers, but Oakland’s keeper Julia Greene kept Warren County’s offense idle.

Oakland had the advantage on corner kicks in the first half, but Taylor Douglas and the Warren County defense turned away any attempt by the Lady Patriots as the half ended 0-0.

Second=half action saw the Lady Pioneers come out of the locker room more aggressive on offense, which resulted in a 5-3 shot advantage over Oakland in the second half.

Lea Montgomery, Taylor Hennessee, Rampp, Hyatt and Tinney fired at the Oakland net, but once again Greene saved the day for the Lady Patriots.

With under two minutes to play, Tinney found an open field and fired what might have been the game winning goal, but her shot hit the cross-bar as the two teams had to settle for a tie.

‘We came out a little slow in the first half,’ said coach Keith Hamilton.

‘By far this is the best team Oakland has put on the field in four years. Both teams came out and went toe-to-toe, as both keepers came up with big plays. Oakland out played us in the first half, but our team came out and played a very aggressive second half. We had a chance to win it at the end, but once again we didn’t have luck on our side. We did a lot of good things tonight and are making big improvements everyday. Douglas did a good job at keeper tonight and we look for her to improve with every game.’

Warren County was scheduled to be in action at home on Thursday in a district match with Riverdale.