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The Spain Park Jaguars used an energetic second half to earn a road victory over the Chelsea Hornets and stay perfect in area play on Friday, March 7 at Chelsea High School. (For the Reporter/Robert Dean)

By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

CHELSEA – Taking the field looking to gather another win, the Spain Park Jaguars used energy and aggressiveness in the second half to pull away from the Chelsea Hornets and maintain a perfect area record.

Spain Park defeated Chelsea 2-0 on Friday, March 7 at Chelsea High School, capitalizing on opportunities from corners and mounting momentum with numerous free kicks.

The Jags made it known early that they were going to the fight, gaining opportunities to break the game open from the very beginning of the game.

In the fourth minute of the game, junior forward Reese Oldfield broke away into the open field and struck a shot from outside the box, but just missed. She gained another breakaway chance to score in the seventh minute, and once again, was unable to capitalize as the shot got saved by the Hornets’ senior goalkeeper Payton Walker.

Just five more minutes later in the 12th minute, Spain Park earned a corner kick opportunity. Tori Flournoy’s entry pass found the head of Addison Soehn, but was once again saved by Walker. 

While the Jags continuously fought the possession battle throughout the first half and earned a few more chances as a goal, nothing seemed to work as Chelsea continued to make plays.

Walker recorded a big save on a shot that went over her head from the side in the 16th minute, securing it before it could cross the line. Right after that in the 19th minute, Hornets star Laura Russell got in the way of a shot with her leg and prevented another Spain Park scoring chance.

Chelsea also found a couple of first-half scoring chances, most notably in the 26th minute as Sydney Breedlove took a shot that sailed just over the crossbar and kept the game scoreless.

The half came to an end in a scoreless tie, but the second half saw all of the Jags’ previous scoring opportunities be rewarded.

Right out of the break in the 45th minute, Spain Park took a short corner kick from the right side of the goal as Soehn took a shot from outside the box and put it in the center of the net, giving her squad a 1-0 lead on the road.

With the pressure suddenly put on the Hornets, more aggressiveness began to show. Breedlove was awarded a free kick in the 54th minute of the game, and on her shot, sailed it over the goal, keeping Chelsea off the board.

Unfortunately for the Hornets, the pressure continued to mount. Just five minutes later in the 59th minute, the Jags were awarded another free kick, which proved to be fruitful as Morgan Anthony was able to put her head on it and lob the ball into the top right corner of the net, extending the score to 2-0.

Breedlove continued to try and make something happen for the Hornets on the other side of the field, hoping to make a response late in the game. She earned another free kick in the 64th minute, but this time, it was saved by Spain Park goalkeeper Emma Pritchett. 

The denial was the last chance that Chelsea really had to get back in the game, and ultimately, the No. 1 team in the nation according to MaxPreps in the Jags took the road victory to stay undefeated in area play.

With the win, Spain Park improves to 8-1 on the young season and 2-0 in its area. It will take the field again following a lengthy break from action on Thursday, March 13 at home against the Homewood Patriots, with kickoff at 5:30 p.m.

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