The 2022 Minford High School girls soccer squad captured the Southern Ohio Conference championship, which was the Lady Falcons’ second in their 20-year program history.                         

 Paul Boggs | Daily Times

MINFORD — Indeed, Minford may be the home of the Greater Portsmouth Regional Airport.

However, an original pilot program that has truly taken off, soared to new heights, and has maintained flight since is Minford Lady Falcons soccer.

So much so, that while some soccer programs for girls have begun but unfortunately folded, the Lady Falcons forge on —beginning a third decade of play.

Minford — the defending Southern Ohio Conference champion and winner of back-to-back Division III sectional championships — begins its 21st girls soccer season, as the program shows zero signs of slowing down.

Quite the contrary in fact, as the Lady Falcons —from the youth level onward and upward to its two 2023 seniors —find themselves in the midst of a program progressing.

“I think the girls program is settled in and is here to stay without an end to it,” said former Minford head coach Dave Munion. “I coached for 11 years, (Current Minford girls soccer coach) Shane (Tieman) has done a good job for the last 10, and the youth program and junior high program look good. It’s continued to grow, the talent is getting better, the coaches are getting better. I thank Shane for continuing the program, Minford for continuing the program, and I wish the girls all the best of luck in the future.”

That future sure looks bright, and looks even better on the Bermuda grass surface of Minford High School’s soccer complex —as the turf is playing host to its second season of matches.

“It’s a new hybrid, stays greener longer, gets thicker quicker and can take a lot of wear and tear. It’s better on the knees than pretty much any other turf you can play on,” said Shane Tieman, Minford’s girls coach of the past decade. “We absolutely love it. It’s really improved our game play.”

But, to know the Lady Falcons’ present, there’s always of course their two-decade past.

In July of 2003, 16 girls reported to the opening practice —as Munion was the Falcons’ boys head coach, and who reported to then-Minford High School Athletic Director Jim Parkes.

By taking the field, even as a pilot program for the 2003 and 2004 campaigns, Minford was the first girls soccer program in Scioto County —since 1985 when Wheelersburg played three matches.

But two decades passed before the Lady Pirates returned to the pitch.

Munion pitched a program idea to Parkes.

“At the time, I went to Jim Parkes and said I had 16 girls show up,” recalled the coach. “I asked him what do you think we can do? Get a program started or at least get some games scheduled? Jim got on the phone and worked hours to get us 12 games that year. He was amazing.”

Those Lady Falcons’ dozen matches were all on the road —with Greenup County consisting of the shortest driving distance.

Minford made trips to Athens, Cross Lanes just north of Charleston in West Virginia, and the areas of Huntington, Columbus and Cincinnati.

Parkes informed Munion that the district would place the program on a two-year probationary startup period, Munion must volunteer his time to serve as the girls head coach, and that the third season —if there was one —would result in the program being upgraded to an officially-sanctioned school sport.

On March 30 of 2005, the girls soccer program was officially recognized by the Minford Local School District Board of Education.

Munion coached the Falcons AND Lady Falcons for those first two years —on a volunteer basis for the girls.

“I would still do it for no pay. It’s about the kids. My goal as a coach was to coach the Minford boys, which I did for four years. When those 16 girls came out in 2003, they had only been used to playing co-ed. Never played against girls only before. But they told me that if you get us games, we’ll play,” he said. “Those girls started all of this for these girls today.”

In all of Munion’s 11 years, which included a sectional championship in 2012, the Lady Falcons played exclusively an independent schedule.

But, he said, the girls held their own against larger schools with more experienced programs —although Jackson’s Ironladies began their program in 2001.

“We were pretty successful. Most of our games were against much bigger schools such as Athens, Circleville, Jackson, Unioto, etc. Those schools had programs for several years and we were winning a lot of those games,” said Munion. “And at that time, there were only two divisions for the tournament, not three like today. Our competition was tough.”

Members of the 2023 Minford Lady Falcons participate in a drill on the opening day for practice of the girls soccer season.

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

Speaking of competition, and by 2014 to be exact in Tieman’s first season, Minford finally had some Scioto County sisterhood —enough to form a Southern Ohio Conference league slate.

By that time, three other county schools —West, Wheelersburg and Northwest—were offering girls soccer as well.

The Lady Falcons, predictably, won the first SOC championship that year —but Wheelersburg won or shared the next five consecutive conference titles.

“The 2014 season was interesting, because finally other schools had enough interest in women’s soccer, and it happened all at once. so ended up with a league,” said Tieman. “We had a 10-year head start on those teams and dominated that first year in winning the SOC, but Waverly and Wheelersburg quickly caught up, and it became very competitive very quickly in the league.”

In fact, it wasn’t until last fall when Minford swept the Lady Pirates in the regular season —and captured their second SOC crown.

“We won the SOC again last year, but that’s never a gimme,” added Tieman.

As part of last season’s 15-3 record, the only regular-season losses were 2-0 at Division II Athens and 2-0 against Division I Lancaster.

Last season was also special on an individual basis.

Minford graduate Haley Knore set the Lady Falcons’ career goals record with 107 over her four seasons.

Ed Litteral | Daily Times

Haley Knore, on the now-known “Soccer Miracle in Minford” night, surpassed Cindy Hay as the program’s all-time leading goal scorer —netting numbers 96 and 97 in that dramatic and epic 7-6 comeback victory over visiting Rock Hill.

The same Lady Falcons which trailed 5-0 in a matter of 31 minutes and 45 seconds, and still remained down 5-0 with 25:41 to play, cranked out an astounding seven goals in those final 25-plus minutes —which was actually 20 total minutes if you want to be precise.

The Lady Falcons only led for the final five minutes and 39 seconds —as Knore passed to Lexi Conkel, who beat Rock Hill goalkeeper Abigail Payne for her fourth counter of the contest.

Hay, who scored 96 goals in her four-year career from 2003 thru 2006, played her entire senior season —per Munion —with a torn ACL.

The graduated Knore notched 107 career goals with 27 career assists, as the now junior Conkel collected 49 goals in 2022 —breaking Knore’s record for most goals scored in a single season.

After two years, Conkel stands at 68 career goals —with 16 assists.

Minford junior Lexi Conkel set the new Lady Falcons’ single-season goals scored record with 49 last season.

Courtesy of Terry Stevenson of www.burgsports.com

Other soccer standouts in recent seasons Tieman mentioned were former Lady Falcon basketball star Erin Daniels, and Aurie Coriell —now a women’s soccer senior at Shawnee State University.

Tieman said the Lady Falcons’ sustained success starts with the youth program for both boys and girls, and develops even further at the Junior High level.

The current coach recalls playing in the youth league in 1981, as Munion was a member of the Falcons’ first boys team two years later.

“It starts with the youth program out here at Minford. We’ve had a very strong youth program that’s helped out at the junior high level,” explained Tieman. “Where other areas have club soccer programs, our closest one is in Huntington. Most players and their parents can’t afford to travel that much or pay those kinds of fees. We wanted to start something a little more development-wise above youth league, so we added to that by adding Junior High soccer. It’s a little tougher because we only have two classes to draw from, but we’ve been able to maintain a boys team and a girls team —or at least dedicated quarters to the girls and dedicated quarters to the boys. We did that a lot last year. We’ve made it a point that we want to develop the girls as a unit and we want to develop the boys as a unit. It’s been very successful, we’ve had Board of Education support, we’ve had good volunteer coaches, people putting in a lot of time and effort. We’ve tried to evolve into the style you see at the United States level. A possession-oriented style, trying to teach good tactical and technical training.”

Munion concurred in regards to technical soccer shaping into form.

“It used to be a lot of ‘kickball’, because it was basically longball kicks to the fastest player in front and they would outrun everybody. Now I watch these programs, and they are working the ball, being tactical about what’s going on. They are bringing the ball backwards to their defenses to spread the field out and start the attack all over,” he said. “That’s progress, that’s what we have to have. That’s what these young kids are learning to do.”

Tieman said the Lady Falcons’ numbers have consistently held in the high teens to low 20s —as the least amount he has had has been 17, with the most at 26 or 27.

This season, there are 18 Lady Falcons —with seven freshmen.

Munion said he would like to see that 18 or 19 expand into the mid-20s —consistently around 25.

The reason you ask?

The likelihood of sporting a junior varsity unit.

“If you can get to or near that number (25) on a regular basis, that’s when you can have a JV team,” he said. “With 18 or 19, in competitive games, generally only 14 or 15 are going to play. Playing time is how kids improve. Practice time is one thing, but on-the-field playing is where they need to be to make those improvements. We need a few more numbers out in order to get a JV program going.”

Some schools, unfortunately including Ironton St. Joseph and West, were unable to field squads last season —and this year too.

Tieman told The Portsmouth Daily Times it’s vital that Minford’s numbers never become a point of negative discussion.

He credits community. parental and administrative support for only adding to the Lady Falcons’ long-term sustainability.

“It’s extremely important (to keep growing program). Look back up here on the hill behind us, and you see the girls that are playing Junior High Soccer this year. Soccer, to me, is the biggest sport of empowerment for young women today. It’s just a wonderful sport for team building, pushing yourself beyond your limits. You can’t play soccer without running a lot, being in good condition and being tough. These girls give hits and they take hits, and all they wear for equipment is shin guards. It’s a tough sport. There’s not a break every 30 seconds. It’s non-stop for 40 minutes and two halves,” he said. “We’ve had this constant investment by the parents and the community in soccer. The school has been very good about supporting the program. There are some schools that really only support maybe one or two sports, but Minford has been very good and even-handed about all the sports. That’s very much appreciated.”

Minford senior defender Sadie Hatfield, who has played soccer since the age of five, had a player’s perspective on the Lady Falcons’ past, present and future.

“Ever since I was little, I know we’ve always had a really strong, supportive community. It’s always been really fun. They push us, but they still make it fun. Winning the league last year was a great accomplishment. For our seniors especially, because I know it was something they really wanted to do. It’s just a good feeling to always accomplish something like that. It was something we really looked forward to,” said Hatfield. “This year, I want us to make it as far as we possibly can. I know it’s cliche to say, but I feel like we have a good team and I want us to go far and have as much fun as we can doing it. We want to leave our own mark.”

Midfielder Emma Conn, who began playing in the fourth grade and besides Hatfield is the only other Minford senior, agreed.

“I didn’t really realize it until I got to high school, but it’s good to feel part of a team. Whether you are on the bench or on the field, it’s one big team supporting each other. It’s really nice,” she said. “I feel like everybody needs to be ready for Minford to kick some butt this year.”

Tieman talked about the Lady Falcons’ outlook as well.

“We’re very excited about the players returning this year. Lexi Conkel, obviously she goes without saying with her 49 goals last year. Her biggest challenge will be everybody knows her now. Her ability to be able to get open will be key, but we’re giving her some additional help up there, with some switching of positions around. We have some good players that are going to be helping up front, and we have some great freshmen coming in as well with speed,” said the coach. “There are a number of girls that are really good role players that we expect to score some goals to give us balance. We had a lot of balance last year in scoring, and I see us having balance this year. We’re very excited about our chances.”

And, chances are, Lady Falcon soccer will still be vibrant and around in another full decade —perhaps even soaring to greater heights.

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved