Playing spoiler

ST. MARYS - Celina was less than three minutes away from clinching a piece of the Western Buckeye League girls soccer championship on Tuesday night.

But Grand Lake rival St. Marys played spoiler.

Taylor Klingshirn's goal gave Celina a lead early in the second half. However, Kendall Dieringer's late header sent the teams to a 1-all tie at Roughrider Field.

"It was a classic WBL game, a rivalry game. There was a lot on the line here tonight. Both teams knew it," Celina coach Eric Gerker said. "Both teams played great. The effort both ways was pretty good."

Celina is now 10-0-3 overall and 5-0-3 in WBL play for 18 points (three points for a win, one for a tie). Shawnee's 4-0 win over Elida gave it sole possession of first place with a 6-0-2 record and 20 points. One game remains for each next Tuesday. Celina hosts Van Wert and Shawnee welcomes Bath. Bath (11-3-0, 6-2-0 WBL) also has 18 points and is tied with Celina for second place.

"The WBL is so flipping hard," said St. Marys coach Nick Wilson after his team improved to 8-3-3 and 4-2-3 in league play. "It's so tough, and if you don't bring it, someone hangs one on you. Your shot is out the window. I think (the rivalry) motivates you. But we were playing for the pride of being a Roughrider and how to make that deep tournament run. … I can't speak for the seniors, but I'm going to guess they were pleased with the potential (of hurting Celina's WBL chances)."

The first half featured physical battles for possession, but quality looks for either team were few and far between. The defenses shined while keepers Kylie Tennant of St. Marys and Kennedy Henry of Celina cleaned up anything and everything around the net.

Celina finally got one in the net with 29:06 remaining.

A cluster of players were in the goal box for a corner kick when the ball found the foot of Klingshirn, who kicked it between a pair of legs and snuck past Tennant.

"In the first half, we came out the first 20 minutes and I thought we really took control possession wise," Gerker said. "In the last 20, we started getting a little stagnant and they started beating us to every ball, which I thought was a big shift for them. We were fortunate to get to the half 0-0.

"We talked to them and calmed them down, got them focused on what we needed to do and started playing a lot better than we were," he added. "I'd like to think we could have had a few more, but they did a great job. We had plenty of shots, plenty of opportunities, we've just got to finish."

Lilly Ankerman nearly had the equalizer four minutes later. She made a nice move after receiving the ball on a runout and booted it with her left from 15 yards out. The ball slipped through Henry's hand but she managed to dive on it before it broke the goal plain. Madi Anthony had a few shots sail high or wide, too. But with 2:15 remaining, Dieringer looped in a header goal off a corner kick by Tabby Knous to tie it up.

"We kind of shifted into defensive mode to hold them off," Gerker said. "But they got a corner kick and Dieringer put it in the upper 90, in the backside to tie it up. Perfect shot, perfect play on their part."

"Would I have liked to have been fighting for the league title tonight? Darn straight I would," Wilson said. "But you saw what it did for us. We got bumped first round of the tournament. May be too big for their britches, whatever it was. Now they know they have to fight for every scrap. I wasn't nearly as nervous as Eric was. I guarantee that."

St. Marys finished with a 9-5 advantage in shots on goal.

The Roughriders host Fort Jennings next Monday before their final regular season game the next day at Defiance. Celina visits Coldwater on Saturday to tuneup for its WBL finale. The Bulldogs and Cavaliers varsity contest will be played at 1 p.m. followed by a half of junior varsity.