Cavs roll past Big Green

COLDWATER - After having lost their final two matches of the regular season, Coldwater was ready to start the postseason right.

The Cavaliers got four goals from Maura Hoying to pick up a 6-1 win over Ottoville in a Division III girls soccer district quarterfinal Saturday evening at Cavalier Stadium.

Coldwater (9-6-2), which tied the school record for wins in a season on Saturday, travels to Ottoville on Wednesday to play Lima Central Catholic at 7 p.m. in a district semifinal. The Thunderbirds defeated Delphos Jefferson 3-1 to advance.

"Those last two regular season games against Shawnee and Celina really got us prepared. I thought we really played well even though we lost," Coldwater coach Scott Brinkman said. "To come out here and play as well as we did was important. We played them earlier this year (a 1-1 in Ottoville) and kind of knew what to expect. The girls came out and executed and that was the key."  

The teams played evenly through the first 27 minutes of play, although Coldwater was on the attack much more. Finally with 12:30 left in the first half, Maura Hoying put the Cavaliers in front by kicking an errant free ball past Big Green keeper Brittany Winhover.

Just when it looked like the Cavaliers would take a one-goal lead into the half, Hoying scored again with 57 seconds to go to make it 2-0.

"That was important. All coaches would prefer to play from the lead," Brinkman said. "Getting those two goals settled us."

Not content to sit on a 2-0 lead. Coldwater looked to raise its margin, finally doing so with with 22 minutes remaining when Lexi Depweg scored off an Abby Schritz assist to make it 3-0.   The goal proved important because the Big Green was able to score with 16 minutes to play on Amber Miller's goal.

Coldwater remained on the attack and kept adding goals. Hoying recorded the hat trick with her third goal with 9:44 left. Schritz earned herself a goal with 8:24 to go and with 6 1/2 minutes left, Hoying made it a four-goal night for herself.

"At halftime we talked about how important that third goal was, and we saw how important it was because (Ottoville) cut it to 3-1," Brinkman said. "I was proud of the girls. They responded so well. They didn't put their heads down (after Ottoville) scored because it went from 3-1 to 6-1. That brought the hammer down at the end of the game."

Coldwater outshot Ottoville 13-3 in the match. Grace Bruns needed to make just one save before giving way to backup Molly Post for the final three minutes of the match.