The Lady Cadets Soccer team hosted Indiana Crossroads Conference member Beech Grove for their third game of the season. The Cadets had found their first win of the year in their previous game and the Cadets were looking for their second win of the season. More importantly, a conference win to help the Lady Cadets defend their conference championship from last season. For the Lady Hornets, the game against Cascade was their second game of the season. The Lady Cadets defeated Beech Grove last season 3-0. This season’s game of the Beech Grove Lady Hornets was an anticipated game for the Lady Cadets. The Cadets had defeated the Hornets two seasons in a row and with a new head coach, the Lady Hornets looked to change their recent fate against the Lady Cadets. With a quick look over the rosters of the both teams, a clear issue came up: lack of game substitutions. The Lady Hornets only listed 14 players on their roster while the Cadets listed 16 players. After the first 10:00 minutes of the game, it was clear that the Lady Cadets held an advantage in physical conditioning and pace of play. The Lady Cadets were able to move the ball in a comfortable pattern for much of their early offensive positions. Despite a good effort, the Lady Hornets struggled to limit the Cadets shot on their goal and the Cadets were able to move the ball fairly cleanly across the midfield. As the Lady Hornets adjusted to a more man to man defensive formation, this allowed the Lady Cadets to attack the goal in 1v1 play. This 1v1 match-up helped the Lady Cadets and they were able to score 6 unassisted goals in the first half. The scoring started with Anna Burns when she blasted a deflected shot over the head of the Beech Grove goalie. On Anna’s second goal of the first half, she was able to dribble past the defenders and took a good corner shot that was tipped by the goalie as it passed outside of her reach. These two early goals helped encourage the other players on the Cadets roster to push the ball up the field more quickly to keep the pressure on the struggling Lady Hornets. Grace Trump was the next Cadet player to score on the Hornet goalie when Grace dribbled up the left side of the field and took two good scoring shots in under a minute that were not contested by the goalie. It seemed likely Grace was going to get her first home goal of the season after the first couple of minutes of the game. Grace had taken a couple of good shots and broke down the right side of the Hornet defense almost every time she got the ball. She kept working to improve her angle on the goal and put a little more energy on the ball to find the back of the net. The Lady Cadets patiently worked the ball up and down the field for the next ten minutes while they subbed players on and off the field in an effort to keep the players fresh. By the time the Cadets had subbed through their offensive roster, Creedance Chittenden had moved back up to the top of the offensive formation and tried to find a way to get a good scoring shot on the goal. Creedence found her best chance to score when she won the ball back after a Beech Grove turnover and took two quick dribbles to kick a 12 yard blast past the goalie for her fourth goal of the season. After the fifth goal of the game, the game clock went into a running mode and the game sped up considerably. The sixth goal of the first half came when the Lady Cadets were awarded another corner kick late in the half. Despite the clock quickly winding down, Ainsley Engel struck a really good lob into the goal box that ricocheted off the back of a Lady Hornet defender and bounced into the goal. The first half ended 6-0. During the second half, the Lady Cadets worked strongly on passing the ball across the field and only made attempts to shoot the ball when the offensive rhythm was strongest. Anna Burns and Creedance Chittenden did score more goals in the second half but they were only after excellent offensive actions from the other Cadet players. Anna’s third goal was from scored from the top of the goal box after a ball was stolen deep in the Beech Grove defensive third. Creedance’s second and third goals of the game came from the actions of other Cadet players. Creedance’s second goal was a header tap in after Ava Cook’s blasted shot struck the crossbar and bounced down in front of the goal. The third goal for Creedance was an assisted goal from Grace Trump’s excellent splitting pass between the Lady Hornet’s defense. Once the game score rose to 9-0 in favor of the Lady Cadets, the game was stopped with 20:00 remaining in accordance with the new IHSAA mercy rule. Despite not having much pressure on the Cadet defense, the Cadets defensive unit gained considerable practice on moving the ball up the field as a start of the offensive rhythm. Defensive stalwarts Ainsley Engel, Laura Cameron, Katie Guetig, and Zoey Wyneken helped defuse every Lady Hornet attack and build quick counter attacks that caught the Lady Hornet defensive players off balance. The 9-0 margin helped get more players into the game as well and keep players on the field who needed the game practice the most. The Lady Cadets victory moved their record to 2-1 (1-0 ICC) and the Lady Hornets are now 0-2 (0-1 ICC). The next Cadets game will be on Tuesday, August 23rd when they travel to Western Boone High School to play the Lady Stars. The game is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Game Summary Cascade 6 - 3 9 Beech Grove 0 - 0 0 Goals/Assists: G: 31:23 Anna Burns (3) G: 27:24 Anna Burns (4) G: 21:04 Grace Trump (2) G: 20:15 Grace Trump (3) G: 9:06 Creedence Chittenden (4) G: 00:00 Beech Grove Own Goal (OG) A: Ainsley Engel (2) G: 32:26 Creeedance Chittenden (5) G: 30:02 Anna Burns (5) G: 27:41 Credence Chittenden (6), A: Grace Trump (1)