No. 1 Not Done

The only goal that Ella Jacobs allowed in the 2021 Division II soccer tournament was the one that ended St. Marys' season.

A high direct kick slipped through Jacobs' hands in the waning minutes of the district final, ending a battle with Shawnee keeper Kaelan Swallow and a stellar tournament run in which Jacobs posted three straight shutouts.

Now, as the Roughriders return the bones of that district final team and look to build on late-season strides on defense, Jacobs has a chance to power a deeper tournament run and cement her place as one of the best goalies in the Western Buckeye League.

"Ella, she recognizes her strong suits and her weaknesses, and she's not afraid to got to task on those weaknesses," St. Marys coach Nick Wilson said. "With those upper balls, she had a couple saves in our Archbold scrimmage that, I struggle to remember seeing a save that good at the high school level...

"The goal that we gave up at the end of the district finals was a goal that 99 times out of 100, she would've stopped. It was a high ball that just slipped through her fingers. Of course, she beat herself up, but that's just part of the game, those things happen."

Wilson said he would've been comfortable putting Jacobs in goal from day one of her freshman year, but senior Kiley Tennant had earned a chance and turned in a first-team all-WBL campaign. Instead, Jacobs found a spot in the lineup with the Roughriders defense, recording two goals, including a game-winner against Celina, and five assists while helping keep pressure off Tennant as the Roughriders went to the regional final.

Taking over for Tennant in 2021, Jacobs recorded 126 saves in 20 games and recorded seven clean sheets, starting with a 7-0 win over Van Wert on Sept. 16.

"High school's a little bit different, because it's more emotional, more heartfelt, that type of thing," Jacobs said. "It's more important to me. But other than that, I've been used to that type of aggressiveness and competitiveness."

From the Van Wert game on, she allowed just 10 goals in 13 games and St. Marys went 6-3 down the stretch of the regular season after a 3-4 start.

Jacobs said she felt comfortable in goal right away, having played keeper in club and through the younger grades, and attributed the late-season run to a young back line coalescing in front of her.

"I feel like that finally clicked, and that helped out a lot and then it just built on from there," Jacobs said. "I'm excited because that same back line is there this year, so I'm hoping it will be just like it left off."

When the tournament started, Jacobs took her own performance up a level. After an 11-0 walkover against Van Wert, she shut out top-seeded Bryan in a 2-0 upset in the sectional final, then outdueled Celina keeper Riley Seitz in a 1-0 win where St. Marys took just three shots on goal and Jacobs thwarted two shots in the final minute to preserve the victory.

"Tournament time, I just got in the right mindset, just went right into it," Jacobs said. "I probably should have that all the time, but something just clicked there in tournament, and I was like, 'I'm going all-out.'"

"She definitely made our postseason run deeper than it potentially could've been," Wilson said. "Hats off to her for having that drive to get us there. As a program, we're incredibly lucky to have someone who's willing to put in the work like she does."

In the district final, played on Wapakoneta's turf field because of three days of drizzling rain, Jacobs made a pair of diving saves late in the first half to keep the score tied at 0-0.

The Roughriders' attack failed to convert on its few chances against Swallow, and with two minutes left, Chloe Cleaves sent a direct kick over Jacobs' head - per Wilson, the area that Jacobs had already identified as her weakest point - and it went through her hands and into the net.

"Weather played a lot in it," Jacobs said. "I went over it in my head a million times. I think I played it right. I don't think I was focused on catching the ball, and it kind of slipped through. I mean, I probably could've hit it out, but that would've given them another chance to score. I feel like I did nothing wrong, it was just a lack of focus."

St. Marys had a golden chance to tie 40 seconds later when Swallow couldn't corral a rebound in front of the goal, but two Roughriders ran into each other, the shot went awry, and the Indians' lead held.

Heading into 2022, the Roughriders return their leading goal-scorer, Aerial Fast, and bring back six senior letterwinners, with five more returners who saw minutes on the varsity team last year.

Jacobs, who picked up second-team all-WBL and all-district honors as a sophomore, spent the offseason focused on tuning up her game, with a focus on improving her distribution to help get her teammates into a rhythm. Wilson also noted her work with the Columbus Goalkeepers Academy as well as on her own, and cited her improvement on shots at the top of the net.

"Ella has incredible ups, just in general, but there may not be a kid who works harder at her craft than she does," Wilson said. "She'll be the first to text me and say, 'Can I borrow your keys to get on the field, I want to go work on this.' So the growth with balls in the elevated third of the goal has really, really improved.

"Part of what makes her tick is never being satisfied. Even when she has a good game, she will make me aware that there are things that she could've done better," he added with a chuckle.

Wilson noted that her work hadn't gone unnoticed to the outside world, saying that after the team's three-way scrimmage against Archbold and Eastwood, an official and an Eastwood coach both stopped him to ask about her.

"They let me know that I was a lucky dog for having her on board," he said. "The Eastwood coach asked her grade, and I said, 'Well, she's just a junior, so even better yet.'"  

Looking down the road, Jacobs is hoping to play college soccer, and has already had initial conversations with programs like Ohio Northern, her dad's alma mater, and Bowling Green. Wilson said that a Division I program "is definitely not out of the equation for her."

But with two more years at St. Marys, she has plenty left to shoot for at the high school level. Heading into her junior year, with a full season in net and the promise of better to come, Jacobs said she feels much more confident.

"Last year, I had a little nervousness, and then trying to replace Kiley Tennant, who did a really good job her senior year, that was kind of on my back too," she said. "I feel a lot better about this year than I did last year."