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New Knoxville goalkeeper Preston Rutschilling (0) reacts as the shot by Celina's Nelson Chapman goes into the goal during Saturday's boys soccer match at the soccer stadium in Celina. Chapman had both goals as the Bulldogs held off the Rangers 2-1 to move to 3-0 on the season.
CELINA - The third match of the boys soccer season for Celina looked to be another big shutout win.
New Knoxville proved up to the challenge
The Bulldogs picked up two more goals from Nelson Chapman in the first half, but needed a strong defensive showing to hold off a determined Rangers squad to pick up the 2-1 win in boys soccer on Saturday at the soccer stadium.
"Knoxville had a good team and we were fortunately to get the two goals in the first half," said Celina coach Ryan Jenkins.
The win moves the Bulldogs to 3-0 on the season heading into a big rivalry game on Thursday at St. Marys. The Rangers, who lost their opening game to Ada 2-1 earlier this week, drops to 0-2.
Chapman, who had a hat trick in the first five minutes of Monday's 14-0 win over Sandusky, got the first goal of the day less than two minutes into the match in taking a pass from Austin Siefring with 38:07 remaining. The Rangers, through, were up for a battle as goalkeeper Preston Rutschilling made several big saves to keep Celina from adding a goal.
With the clock winding down to three minutes remaining in the first half, Chapman got the ball outside the 18-yard box and drove in to put the ball past Rutschilling at the 3:02 mark to make it 2-0. At the half.
Celina's Zaden Rolfes (4) and New Knoxville's Noah Holland (12) battle for control of the ball.
Celina tried to extend the lead in the second half, but the Ranger defense played tough with Rutschilling making four big saves as Celina had three corner kicks in the second half.
"(Rutschilling) is a good keeper," said Jenkins. "We talked before the game that we would have to place (the ball) in the corners to beat them. He stepped up and executed."
New Knoxville struggled to find chances to score as the Rangers did not have a shot on goal for the first 70 minutes of play. Celina keeper Brady Steinbrunner's only interactions with the ball came on corralling errant passes.
New Knoxville's Jay Schroeder (10) kicks the ball away from Celina's Logan Sapp.
The Rangers finally struck with just over eight minutes remaining in the match as Jay Schroeder lofted a kick from 25 yards out. Steinbrunner was just out of reach of the ball as it went to the back of the net with 8:12 to play to get the Rangers to within a goal.
"Brady was off his line a little bit and (Schroeder) got it over him. Brady got a hand up and it just went over his hand," said Jenkins. "It was a nice shot."
Celina had a good chance to put the margin back to two in the final minutes, but Rutschilling made a save off a header from a corner kick to deny the Bulldogs.
"Would have been nice to get a few more in the second half. We had some opportunities," said Jenkins. "We just couldn't finish. They scored late and that made the last few minutes very competitive. Just a good game."
While Celina is at St. Marys on Thursday, New Knoxville hosts Lincolnview on Tuesday before opening Western Ohio Soccer League play on Thursday by hosting Botkins.
