Roughriders roll in opener

ST. MARYS - Scoring four goals in a seven-minute span early in the first half, St. Marys jumped on Upper Sandusky early and cruised to an 11-2 win Wednesday evening in the Division II boys soccer district quarterfinal at Roughrider Field.

The Roughriders (12-2-2) will face Shawnee at 5 p.m. on Monday in the district semifinal at Elida Middle School. Shawnee defeated Wapakoneta 3-2 on Wednesday.

The quick start allowed St. Marys coach Dave Ring to empty his bench early.

"We got a chance to play all 22 which was awesome," Ring said. "The quick start was very important. It gives me an opportunity to get players off the field so they don't get hurt and injuries have been a big issue with us this season. So it was nice to be able to play a lot of young guys."

St. Marys recorded the game's first six shots on goal before Roughrider junior Evan Vogel got the scoring started with an assist from Austin Wilker at the 33:06 mark of the first half.

Just over two minutes later Vogel scored again, this time with an assist from Sam Young. Young got into the act with back-to-back goals about two minutes apart to put St. Marys up 4-0 at the 25:55 mark of the first half.

Upper Sandusky got on the scoreboard at the 16:57 mark with a goal by Eli Kinley. However, St. Marys closed out the first half with goals by Parker Enoch and  Dylan Engel to lead 6-1 at intermission.

The Roughriders outshot Upper Sandusky 22-4 in the first half.

Kinley added his second goal to start the second half for the Rams, but the rest of the half was all St. Marys.

Freshman Andrew Vogel got into the act at the 23:18 mark with and assist from Clay Quellhorst. Luke Vondrell, who started the game in goal for the Roughriders, switched to forward, and scored back -to-back rebound goals.

Jacob Grannon added a penalty kick goal and Caleb James capped the scoring with a long distance kick at the 3:47 mark.

Despite the lopsided score, Ring was impressed with the battle put up by the Rams.

"Upper Sandusky played as hard at the end of the game as they did at the beginning," he said. "They played with a lot of heart, and I was impressed because in a game like this they could have easily quit, but they kept attacking us all night."

After starting the season at 10-0, the Roughriders improved to 12-2-2 with the win Wednesday and will face Shawnee in the District Semifinals Monday at the Elida Middle School beginning at 5 p.m. St. Marys beat Shawnee 6-0 during the regular season.

Despite the late season slump, Ring feels his team is ready to make a deep tournament run.

"In games against Wapak and Celina, we had opportunities, we just didn't finish't," he said. "We need to play like we did the first 11 games. And defensively, and I think we're making strides back to where we should be.

"Offensively, we've scored in every game we've been in. No one has been able to shut us out," Ring continued. "Celina shut out six teams in the WBL, but we were not one of them. No team at St. Marys has ever scored in every game so this is awesome."