Big first half lifts Cavs in tournament opener

COLDWATER - The Coldwater girls soccer team entered the tournament on a two-game losing streak, but it was firing on all cylinders Thursday night.

Ava Giere scored the first three goals and Blair Muhlenkamp added a pair as Coldwater rolled to a 5-0 win over Crestview in the Division III sectional final at Cavalier Stadium.

"We had a week to work on stuff since our last game, and that really helped," Coldwater coach Paul Dingledine said. "We were able to go over things, get repetition after repetition on them. Lot of good things tonight, but there's still some that we need to work on."

With the win, Coldwater (9-6-2) moves on to face Allen East (9-6-3) in Ottoville for the district semifinal on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. The Mustangs upset top-seeded Columbus Grove 4-3 on Thursday.

Coldwater got three early opportunities - a corner that went nowhere, a breakaway shot by Hope Hemmelgarn that was saved, and a shot by Giere from the right side that faded right of the goal - before Giere got the Cavaliers on the board with 31:39 left in the first half. Breaking free on the left side, Giere got within a few feet of the goal and tucked the ball inside the left post as Crestview goalie Emily Karcher made a late charge.

Crestview (7-11-0) had a chance to tie it up right away on a shot by Adessa Alvarez that bounced over the head of Coldwater keeper Macy Sheffer but trailed off to the right. A minute later, Addison Williman took a shot that was blocked in traffic, and with 22 minutes left in the half, Williman had a breakaway opportunity cut short by an offsides call.

For the first time all year, the Cavaliers defense man-marked the opposition's top scorer, Katelyn Castle, stifling her and forcing the rest of the Knights to try to pick up the slack.

"I think it really frustrated her," Dingledine said. "After it got to the point where they started moving her back because she couldn't do anything offensively, we kind of had them where we wanted them, and that opened things up for Ava up front."

Karcher saved two more shots and watched another miss just outside the right post, while Knights defenders drew a pair of yellow cards as the Cavaliers held the ball.

With 18 minutes and change on the clock, Kya Baker made a nice play on the right sideline to keep the ball inbounds and passed it up to Muhlenkamp, who got it to Giere in the middle. Giere sliced through the defense on the right side and kicked the ball left as Karcher dove right to make it 2-0 with 18:11 left in the half.

"They were a little rough on Ava tonight, but the refs did a good job of keeping it under control," Dingledine said. "Once they realized that they couldn't beat on her like they were, it settled down quite a bit."

The Knights had chances to keep it close as the first half wore on. Sheffer saved a shot by Macy Kulwicki before a Coldwater defender screened Josie Williamson, who never saw Alvarez's pass on the back post. But with 7:31 left in the half, Giere took a pass from Maddie Sheffer and worked her way through the middle of the field, firing a shot inside the left post to give the Cavaliers a 3-0 lead.

Two minutes later, Brianna Keller booted a pass downfield for Muhlenkamp, who got behind the defense and threaded a shot between Karcher's shoulder and the right post for her first goal of the night and her fifth of the season.

"She hasn't scored that much for us all year, and she came through with two really nice goals," Dingledine said. "So I'm proud of her, and hopefully she can keep it up."

Both teams had opportunities in the second half, starting with Castle's breakaway shot with 31:51 left that went right to Macy Sheffer in net, her only shot of the night. Sheffer made another diving save with 12:25 left and snatched up a pair of long passes right in front of Crestview's forwards to preserve the lead.

Coldwater had chances to add on, including a shot by Muhlenkamp that was called back by the referees and a pass to Hope Hemmelgarn on the back post that came to nothing when Hemmelgarn collided with Crestview's Emily Brower. The closest came on a corner kick with 30 minutes left, as Keller hit a header that bounced off the crossbar, dropped straight down and trickled back to Karcher.

With time already too short for a Crestview comeback, Muhlenkamp put the game on ice with a shot across the goal from the right side, giving the Cavaliers the 5-0 margin with 1:42 to play.

Macy Sheffer finished with five saves. Ellie Schneider joined Maddie Sheffer and Keller with an assist.