By MARC TOBIAS
mtobias@dailystandard.com
FINDLAY — The Lady Bulldogs soccer squad started its Division
I tournament run with a dominating 10-0 win over Lima Senior
at Graham Memorial Soccer Stadium on Wednesday.
The Bulldogs had 27 shots and seven corner kicks to build a
5-0 first-half lead.
Celina now gets a few days rest before taking on Bowling Green
in the sectional championship game Monday at 5 p.m. Bowling
Green also started the tournament well, as it knocked off Fremont
Ross by a 5-1 score.
The Dogs got the scoring going early as Laura Bonvillian scored
her seventh goal of the season on a Beth Braun cross in the
fifth minute.
Four minutes later, it was Brittany Riesen scoring after Jenna
Schleucher ripped a shot that Spartan keeper Stacie Heffner
was unable to handle cleanly as Riesen put the rebound away
for her 10th goal of the season.
“I’m pleased because a lot of times we have the
tendency to lag in the first 10 minutes, and sometimes we have
the tendency to not bring our ‘A’ game for every
opponent,” said Celina coach Dean Liggett. “Some
of the girls that scored tonight got their opportunity and they
seized it. Andrea Bryan got her first goal, I think the first
goal of her career. Kelli Williams had her first goal of the
season and Megan Schneible had two goals.”
Schneible scored Celina’s third goal off some nice combination
passing from Lindsey Miller and Bryan. Schneible scored her
second goal 46 seconds before halftime while Meg Smalley had
Celina’s other first-half goal.
The second half mirrored the first with Celina controlling all
aspects of the game.
Shay Adams and Bryan both had early goals to extend the Bulldogs
lead to 7-0. Carrie Butturini then got in the 62nd minute, and
Williams, who had played keeper in the first half and all year
for the Bulldogs, registered a goal while playing in the field
in the second half. Riesen also scored her second goal of the
game in the final 10 minutes.
For the game Celina outshot Lima Senior 43-1.
Liggett said he was pleased with the victory but added his squad
has some work before Monday’s game.
“Passing, passing, finishing and passing,” Liggett
said. “Passing and finishing, it doesn’t matter
who you play, you have to have those elements of the game. Going
in against BG and hopefully against Findlay if we get past BG,
that’s what we have to do. We can’t have a long
ball game, we have to have passing and work on the pace of the
pass. We work on first touch every day, although at times it
might not seem like it,” he said with a laugh, “But
we do and at this time of the season I don’t know what
you can do to improve your first touch. Right now we have to
realize that’s not the strength of our game, and work
on things that are our strengths which is passing and finishing.”
Liggett and the Dogs did have a chance to get a peak at BG who
played immediately before their contest.
“BG is a solid team, I’d say they’re comparable
to us, I don’t think they necessarily have the same caliber
defense that we do, so I’m hoping we can test their defense
quite a bit,” Liggett said. “When Fremont Ross did
get down there and test them, BG’s keeper looked a little
unsure of what she wanted to do. Fremont was on top of them
1-0, had a chance to go up 2-0, and then all of a sudden BG
woke up and started dominating the midfield play.”
Celina moves to 14-1-2 while Lima Senior ends its season at
2-15.
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