Roughriders score three times in first half

ELIDA - St. Marys put wind advantage to good use in the first half to jump out with three goals, then cruised in the second half to defeat Fort Jennings 3-1 at the Division II girls soccer district final at the Elida Athletic Complex on Saturday afternoon.

The Roughriders (15-4-1) advance to the regional semifinals for the second straight year on Wednesday at Lexington at 7 p.m. against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (15-2-3), ranked sixth in the final coaches' poll of the season. The Irish advanced with a 2-1 win over Doylestown Chippewa on Thursday. The Musketeers end their season at 12-5-3.

"This was a goal of ours at the beginning of the year," said St. Marys coach Paul Dingledine. "Once the league slipped away from us, we set our eyes on the tournament. Turned out pretty well for us."

St. Marys earned the choice of which side to begin the match and took the wind to its back for the first 40 minutes. The plan paid off as the Roughriders were able to get the ball downfield with regularity. St. Marys took 12 shots in the half, but it wasn't until the 11:32 mark when the first goal was scored when Kaysha Dietz scored off a pass to make it 1-0.

Insurance came shortly after. With 4:48 left in the half, Katie Burke stepped up to take a direct kick after a Musketeers foul. Burke's first kick went right into the defensive wall of players, but the rebound shot went into the goal.

Then with 54 seconds to go, the Roughriders got a corner kick, where sophomore Kendra Vehorn put in the shot to make it 3-0.

"We won the flip when Fort Jennings called it and lost it and Katie said 'We want the wind.' and I said yeah," said Dingledine. "There for a while, I thought it might be a questionable call, maybe we should have let them have the wind for the first half and go for the second. Turned out, we got those three goals in and that was the difference in the game."

Even though Fort Jennings, which did not attempt a shot in the first half, had the wind for the second half, the Roughrider defense cranked up their play, paying close attention to Musketeer Katie VonLehmden, who came in with 11 goals and eight assists this year. VonLehmden was a key contributor when the teams played to a 2-all tie in the regular season.

"They moved Katie outside this time and Macy (Davis-Ferrall) did a heckuva job marking her and keeping her under control," said Dingledine. "That was the girl we knew we needed watching. With Macy keeping her in check, we were able to free up some other girls."

The Musketeers got five shots on goal in the second half, but keeper Paige Dicus earned three saves before getting pulled late for Allyson Lutz. Fort Jennings got a meaningless goal off Lutz with 3:27 left to go in the match with a shot from Taylor Wallenhorst that trickled by the keeper.

"Our defenders did a nice job for the most part to keep the ball away and let Paige get it," said Dingledine. "We just had that one mental breakdown."