Roughriders rout Cougars

ST. MARYS - Wednesday evening was one of those nights where everybody got into the act at Roughrider Field.

St. Marys scored four times in the first nine minutes and never looked back in opening Division II girls soccer tournament action with an 11-0 win over Van Wert.

The Roughriders (10-7-0) travels to Bryan on Saturday night at 6 p.m. for the sectional final. The top-seeded Golden Bears defeated St. Marys 4-2 on Sept. 14.

St. Marys defeated Van Wert 7-0 during the regular season in league play, so Roughriders coach Nick Wilson was ready to play everyone on his roster during the evening.

"I take my hat off to Van Wert every year. It's a program that struggles with numbers," said Wilson. "Their attitude is always top-notch and they never quit."

It took just over 90 seconds to get the scoring underway as Kendall Dieringer scored off an Aerial Fast pass for the first goal of the night at 38:20. Over three minutes later, Morgan Hesse broke free and scored. A minute later, Dieringer returned the favor and assisted on Fast's goal. The final goal of the spurt came at 31:15 to play as Reese Rable scored to make it 4-0. Fast added her second goal of the match at the 20-minute mark to make the score 5-0 at the end of the first half.

Wilson subbed in and out on a regular basis, with everyone getting solid playing time. Starting keeper Ella Jacobs only played the first half with backups Leah Brackman and Emily Ellis playing the second half.

"We've struggled with numbers, so we've had a limited number of JV games," said Wilson. "We've had a few games where we've been able to get our entire roster out there, which is tremendous for building for the future. Nice way to kick off the postseason."

Dieringer got her second goal of the match to start the second half at the 38:34 mark off a corner kick from Kara Lochard, triggering the running clock for the rest of the night. Three minutes later, Jewell Niekamp scored off a Dieringer assist with Emma Freewalt adding a goal off a rebound a minute later to make it 8-0.

Krista Ruppert got the ninth goal of the night off a Hesse corner kick at the 27:17 mark. Rable scored her second of the night with 24 1/2 minutes to play with the final goal coming three minutes later from Hesse.

St. Marys outshot Van Wert (1-14-0) 19-0 on the evening and finished with a 13-1 advantage on corner kicks.