MCHS soccer streak ends at 13 as West Jessamine earns 1-1 tie By Dan Manley Advocate Sports Editor The Montgomery County High School soccer team was going after win No. 14 last week at Cunningham Field as they played host to West Jessamine. But the Colts rallied for a second half goal to tie the Indians 1-1 and bring their school-record win streak to an end at 13 matches. Then the Indians turned right around and began a new streak with a 4-0 district win over Bourbon County to wrap up the No. 1 seed for the upcoming 39th district tournament that begins in less than two weeks. The Indians will face that same Bourbon County team in the opening round of district play. Against West Jessamine, a team that has a 9-5-2 record against a very demanding schedule, the Indians got a first-half goal from Marco Ortega on a pass from Caswell Fuller and they carried that lead into the break. The Colts did manage to pick up the pace of their offense in the second half and scored when senior Sumner Blue found the net. Montgomery County finished with 11 shots on goal to seven by West Jessamine, but couldn't find the net again. With the win streak over the Indians simply got rolling again two nights later at Paris when they went up 2-0 at the half on Bourbon County and controlled the game from start to finish. The Indians did lose senior Nolan Moser for the next two games when he picked up a red card. Before he left the game, though, he scored three of Montgomery County's four goals, one of them on an assist from Spencer Holder and the other two unassisted. The Indians' other goal came from Marco Ortega and was also unassisted. Montgomery County had a whopping 34 shots on goal in the match compared to only one for Bourbon County. Hunter Cole was in goal for the Indians as the Tribe recorded their seventh shutout of the season. Montgomery County improved its record to 14-1-1 and the Indians have given up just 13 goals in their 16 matches so far while scoring 81. The Indians have just four matches remaining in regular season play and three of those are at home. The Indians get Madison Central, Madison Southern and Boyd County on their home turf and then will close out regular season action against a very good Mercer County team on the road. "Madison Central and Mercer County are two very strong teams that will really challenge us," said MCHS coach Nick Pannell. One of the strengths for the Indians this season has been their great scoring balance. Moser leads the team with 19 goals and six assists and is one of four players who has scored in double figures. Alex Shkrabba has tallied 14 goals, along with seven assists while Caswell Fuller has 11 goals and is also in double figures in assists, leading the team with 10. Marco Ortega has scored 10 goals while Mason Hatton and Zach Hill, with six and five goals, respectively, have also added to the Tribe's offensive punch that shows them averaging five goals per game. Ortega is second on the team in assists with eight, followed by Shkrabba and then Mason Hatton and Nolan Moser, with five and four, respectively. In all, 13 different players have scored for the Indians.