Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

Western Boone’s girls soccer team continued a season of improvement and set their gaze on next week’s sectional with a 3-1 Sagamore Conference win over Crawfordsville. “It’s the first time in six years we have had a regular-season winning record, and six years since we’ve had a conference winning record,” Stars coach Shane Steimel said. “We also played a good game on turf for the first time this season, and that is great, since Danville has turf.” WeBo got a first-half goal from KaLeigh Steimel, as senior Aizlinn Baxter stole a ball and made a pass to Steimel who got open and drilled a shot with 13:57 left. The Athenians tied the match at the 32:34 mark of the second half on a penalty kick by Riley Gardner. Stars leading season scorer KaLeigh Steimel scored twice in the second half, giving the senior 15 goals on the season. “We did a lot of combination passing tonight,” Steimel said. “We had more passes than dribbling. The best part was just watching how much fun they were all having. We have five really good seniors, but we have some great freshmen and sophomores stepping up.” Stars goal keeper Lili Jones stopped six of the seven shots she faced, as the defense kept the Athenians at a distance most of the match. “We pressured the ball well,” Steimel said, “and we maintained our possessions. We rotated well, and all these things are important next week in the tournament. The goal we gave up was only the second one in the last five games.” “We played well defensively,” Steimel said, “and that is what we have to do against Danville next week. The tough thing is scoring against Danville. They are the conference champs for a reason.” The Stars finish the regular season 8-4-1 and 4-3 in the Sagamore league. They take on Danville in the semi-finals at sectionals Thursday, October 6 at 7:30pm. Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.