Bulldogs beat Roughriders

ST. MARYS - There's no love lost between Celina and St. Marys, evident by the physicality and emotion shown on both sides during Monday night's Western Buckeye League girls' soccer match at Roughrider Field.

That doesn't mean the two sides don't respect each other.

Both groups put forth maximum effort, but in the end, the Bulldogs cruised to a 3-0 win against a St. Marys' team that was forced to play the majority of the match with only 10 players after a red card was issued early in the first half.

Alyssa Cisco scored two goals and Caelyn Reineke added a penalty-kick goal in the first half as the Bulldogs picked up a win over their across-the-lake rivals a week removed from defeating state-ranked Wapakoneta.

"It's a big rivalry," Celina coach Cal Freeman said. "It doesn't matter what the records are, it's a battle all the way through. As you saw, both teams played hard all the way through the end. They're a good team. They're going to knock off a lot of teams."

Cisco struck first off an assist by Reineke less than five minutes into the opening half. With 27:11 remaining in the half, St. Marys goalkeeper Bailey Fenwick-Miller was issued a red card on a play inside the goal box and was sent off for the rest of the match. Reineke stepped in and nailed the penalty shot against backup goalie Emma White, a freshman who was very solid the rest of the way.

"We have a lot of heart, and that's something I can be very proud of," St. Marys coach Seth Hertenstein said. "It's disappointing to lose, obviously. Anytime you lose to Celina, it hurts. But when you play with pride and when you play with heart, there's not a whole lot you can complain about, even if you do complain about the refs."

St. Marys was issued three yellow cards throughout the match and trailed 2-0 at intermission.

Bailey Laux delivered a crisp pass to Cisco for a goal with 31:10 left in the contest. The win improved Celina's record to 7-3 overall and 4-2 in the Western Buckeye League.

"I always have respect for Celina," Hertenstein said. "I don't like them, but I always have respect for them, because they know how to play and they play hard. I've never once seen Celina not play hard, and that's something to respect. I look forward to playing them again. I hope we can meet them in the playoffs and we can show them what we're truly about."

Celina mounted 18 shot attempts compared with St. Marys' 11. Bulldogs' goalkeeper Callie Vogel finished the night with four saves. Even with the shot advantage, Freeman would have liked to have seen more control and better finishing from his team.

"We missed some golden opportunities that we should have scored on," Freeman said. "It's just been kind of the monkey on our back, not being able to capitalize at the time we have the opportunities."

White finished with six saves in net for St. Marys and Fenwick-Miller had five before exiting.

Celina returns to WBL play Thursday at home against Van Wert. The Roughriders are back in action that same night at Defiance.