Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

The Western Boone girls soccer team felt good about their game plan coming into the sectional opener on Tuesday evening against Crawfordsville. The Athenians came in with a six-game winning streak, including a 1-0 win over Western Boone last week. But the Stars learned a lot from that game, and came up with a way to try and slow down the Athenian attack. And while it worked for most of the first half, a Crawfordsville goal right before halftime changed the tide of the game and Crawfordsville went on to win 3-0. "We knew we didn't want to away a breakaway, penalty kick or a goal off a set piece," Western Boone head coach Shane Steimel said. "We accomplished that all day. They got an unlucky goal late in the first half, but we were thrilled to get to that point, because with the strong wind in our face, we were happy to keep it 0-0 and knew we would have some chances." Crawfordsville had the ball in the Stars half for most of the first half, utilizing the wind at their back. But the Stars held them off until the final 17 seconds, when Crawfordsville's Lexi Cox sent a looping shot toward goal. Miscommunication in the back by WeBo saw the shot end up in the back of the next, and give the Athenians a 1-0 lead. The Stars upped their pressure in the second half. freestar They had a couple good chances off a corner kick, and created more opportunities for their offense. But they couldn't capitalize, and with the Stars pressing more numbers forward, the Athenians added goals with 12:22 and 9:27 to go to see out the game. "We talked at halftime that down just one goal, we were going to sit back and when we got to the 20-minute mark, we would increase our pressure," Steimel said. "We rotated a lot of players and we knew we were in a good spot. We felt like if we could keep the scoring down, that would be our best chance to win. Unfortunately, we couldn't get those goals." Western Boone finished the year 5-10 and 3-4 in the conference. They graduate a 10-player senior class. "They are a bunch of really good kids, and were willing to put the team first ahead of their individual accomplishments," Steimel said. "We didn't have a selfish kid out there and I think that speaks a lot. I think they passed that down to the 13 juniors and the sophomores. But mostly it was the selflessness I will remember. This wasn't always a fun year with 25 kids competing for playing and I'm sure nobody felt like that got the playing time they wanted, but they had the best attitudes and put the team first." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.