Greenfield-Central’s Tessa Joyner defends against Pendleton Heights during their match on Wednesday, Aug. 31.
Tom Russo | The Times-Post
By Brady Extin | The Times-Post
PENDLETON — Pendleton Heights kept their winning streak alive in their recent Hoosier Heritage conference opener against Greenfield-Central.
After a 3-0 shutout, the Arabians pushed their number of consecutive wins to four, following an 0-2 start.
The G-C victory came behind the leg of freshman Lyza DeShong who was responsible for all three of the Arabians’ goals.
The speed of DeShong caused fits for the banged-up Cougars defenders all night long.
It only took two minutes of game time for DeShong to put the pressure on Greenfield-Central when she fired her first shot on net.
This one was saved by Greenfield-Central goalie Jessica Merritt, but the next three were not.
Just two minutes later, and just 4 minutes into the game, the Cougars had control of the ball and were passing it backwards towards their own net and away from Pendleton Heights.
A lapse by the Cougars and a lazy pass was all the opening that DeShong needed to steal the ball and take it for a breakaway towards the net where she was able to beat a diving Merritt to the right side.
Midway through the first half she found herself with another one-on-one chance, this time switching things up and firing one to the left to beat Merritt.
She found the back of the net one final time near the end of the first half.
As she brought the ball up field she was just faster than everyone else and outran everyone to give herself another free look at the net. And Once again, she got the best of Merritt.
While DeShong handled things on the offensive side of the ball, the Arabian defenders did their job on defense and were able to limit the Cougars scoring chances.
On the few chances that Greenfield-Central did have, including three corner kicks in the final two minutes of the first half, the Pendleton Heights defenders were there to make the block.
Pendleton Heights freshman goalie Priscilla Barajas didn’t have to make a save until the second half, but when she was needed she was there, stopping nine shots on the night to record her second consecutive shutout.
After a 5-0 loss to Fishers in the second game of the season, Pendleton-Heights has now outscored opposing teams 18-3 over their four-game winning streak.
The win moved Pendleton Heights to 4-2 on the season (1-0, HHC).
They played Tuesday, Sept. 6 (after press time), and their next game will be Thursday, Sept 8, against North Central.
