MINFORD — Over the last 10 years, the Minford Falcons' girls soccer program has turned into a program that has consistently reloaded year-in and year-out — instead of rebuilt.
If Saturday afternoon's effort was any indication, Shane Tieman's club is in good shape once again.
Down 2-0 after two goals by Lily Ferguson through 29 minutes of play, Minford rallied from that deficit by getting equalizing top-shelf goals from Marley Rhodes and Makenna Enz and playing lockdown defense the rest of the distance en route to drawing Lynchburg-Clay in a 2-2 tie.
The contest, which officially kicked off the 2026-27 soccer season for Scioto County programs, was moved to Minford late Friday evening after originally being scheduled at Lynchburg. The nonconference matchup was moved due to standing water on Lynchburg-Clay's playing surface.
Tieman was impressed with how his roster of 24 played, particularly considering that Minford wasn't even able to see the pitch last week as a team.
"We weren't on our pitch for a full week before, so the first half there, we were a little rusty," Tieman said. "I felt like we were playing timid to start, but I was pleased with how the girls bounced back and battled back. We played great in the second half. There's more than 11 girls out there that are making a statement and saying, 'You can't afford to put me on the bench.' That's a great problem to have."
Lynchburg-Clay, a program who is a regular regional and state contender as Minford has grown to be, routinely plays a physical brand of soccer until longtime head coach Dennis West.
West, who has gone 537-187-76 between his stints coaching the Lynchburg-Clay girls soccer program from 2002 to the present and the Lynchburg-Clay boys soccer program from 1999 to 2017, led his visiting Lady Mustangs to the early lead as Lynchburg-Clay was able to break the Minford defense down successfully over the first 30 minutes of action.
This ultimately resulted in a pair of goals from Lynchburg-Clay junior forward Lily Ferguson, as the Lady Mustangs' leading scorer from 2025 with 10 goals last season dropped two in the bucket in the 19th and 29th minutes, the latter of which was assisted by Caraline West.
Tieman credited Lynchburg-Clay for helping set a schedule model that Tieman has tried to build in a similar fashion.
"Lynchburg-Clay plays with a lot of physicality," Tieman said. "When I first started in 2014, we weren't touching them. I give a lot of credit to (Dennis West). He said, 'You've got to play harder people. You've got to play harder talent. Five or six years ago, we started playing a super strong strength of schedule, and it has gotten us better as a program. It's made us what we are today. It's what got us to the final four two years ago. We're going to continue that. We have a brutal schedule, and we wouldn't have it any other way. That's Minford soccer. We're going to play the best. To be the best, you've got to beat the best. We're excited and glad to come out of here with at least a draw. I'm really excited that we got better as the game went. We've got stuff to work on, but I'm excited about this year."
That showed over the contest's remaining 55 minutes of play.
Minford senior Marley Rhodes, a three-sport athlete who is coming off of an excellent track and field season where Rhodes qualified for state in the 400 meter dash with a personal best time of 58.31 in regional competition, showcased her speed throughout the game and was a strong vocal presence in the middle of the Lady Falcons' offense.
Rhodes was able to score on a beautiful shot in the 34th minute, pulling and connecting on a well-framed shot that nestled perfectly into the top left corner of the net off of a feed from freshman teammate Presley Brooks. The shot pulled Minford to within 2-1 at the halftime break in the process.
With eight shots for Minford and five for Lynchburg-Clay, both teams ended up playing relatively even the rest of the way. The Falcons, however, were able to establish several strong runs on Lynchburg-Clay's end between the 60th to 78th minutes of play, which ultimately led to another top-shelf connection.
Multi-sport athlete Makenna Enz evened the score at two apiece when Enz scored on another top-shelf, upper left corner goal after the junior received a pass from fellow junior teammate Sadie Tieman up near the top of the box.
"They're ballfinders," Tieman said of Enz and Rhodes. "They do a great job. Marley relies on her speed, and (Makenna) Enz relies on her ballhandling. They do a good job for us. I was really proud of them. We played a lot of freshmen. Our seniors did a great job leading the team. We had players who are banged up and playing through the pain. We got a great effort in goal by Allie Sanders who helped keep the ball from going in the goal there. That's a senior right there. She's been struggling with shin splints and all that, but she was there when we needed her."
Defensively, Tieman was pleased with his entire backline, in particular true freshman Addalynn Llewellyn — a player that Tieman said "made wonderful runs" from her fullback position — as well as senior goalkeeper Allie Sanders for their communication and gritty play.
"Everybody was playing very well," Tieman said. "We did a great job over the last 40 minutes. If we put that together for two halves, we'll be tough to beat. We haven't played our best soccer, but we're getting there. I'm really pleased with the work we're putting in as a team."
The 2-2 draw has Minford and Lynchburg-Clay sitting at 0-0-1 on the season as of press time Tuesday. The Lady Falcons have gone 3-1-1 against the Lady Mustangs in the last five meetings between the pair — which, to Tieman, is a further indicator of the support and effort Minford continues to put in with its soccer programs at the youth level.
For that, Tieman singled out the late Chad McHenry, who passed away in May 2025 at the age of 47, among others, for their work inside Minford's youth league and junior high soccer programs.
"It's a major benefit where we have a junior high soccer program here in Minford, both girls and boys, that just churns out talent, as well as a great youth program," Tieman said. "My buddy, Chad McHenry, who left this Earth too soon, was part of that. We're reaping the benefits from all of his hard work and the other men and women down there working with the kids for us. I'm so proud of the program at Minford from U4 on up."
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