Monday, October 31st, 2011

Roughriders unable to dig out of early 1-0 hole

Division II District Soccer at Elida

By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

St. Marys' Sara Lininger, 22, redirects the ball using her head while Bath's Sarah Blasiman takes a knee to the face during their Division II district championship game on Saturday. Bath defeated St. Marys 1-0.

ELIDA - An early goal for Bath held up for the final 50 minutes of the match as St. Marys suffered a 1-0 loss to the Wildcats at the Division II girls' soccer district final held on Saturday at the Elida Athletic Complex.
The win sends Bath (12-3-4) to its first-ever regional semifinal on Wednesday at Graham Soccer Stadium in Findlay against Clyde District winner Clear Fork, which won 3-0 over Oak Harbor. The Roughriders end a strong season at 13-2-4.
"My girls have definitely peaked this season," said Bath's coach Morgan Lashaway. "We're making a great run and have come together well as a team. We're playing some phenomenal soccer."
The Wildcats' solid defense kept the Roughriders from getting many decent shots at the goal. St. Marys had just two shots on goal in the first half but the Wildcats attempted just one first-half shot.
"We battled all day long just to get the ball up to our forwards," said Roughriders' coach Paul Dingledine. "Our girls weren't in position to receive the ball. We just weren't in sync today."
Bath's one shot, though, was huge.
With the clock winding down to 13 1/2 minutes to play in the first half, Katie Dackin set up for a corner kick. Katie Dackin kicked the ball right into the middle of the Roughriders' goal area, where Taylor Dackin - Katie's cousin - headed the ball into the goal at the 13:32 mark as Bath grabbed the lead.
"We've been working on that all season long and haven't been able to capitalize," said Lashaway. "... Taylor timed it up just right and Katie has been able to serve up some beautiful balls in the center for us to give us that great opportunity."
St. Marys racheted up the pressure to score in the second half and took five shots on goal.
The closest that the Roughriders came to tying the score came with 3:15 remaining in the match. Ashleigh Falk booted a long shot from outside the penalty area. The ball went over Bath keeper's Audrey Brandon's head, but hit the bottom part of the cross bar and back into play. Brandon smothered the ball quickly to keep St. Marys from collecting the rebound.
"When that one left her foot, Jeff (assistant coach Jeff James) shouted 'That's going in!'," said Dingledine. "It just deflected off. It was so far out, nobody could follow (the ball) because it was so far away.
"We had our chances and just didn't cash in on it."
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

St. Marys' Ashleigh Falk, 5, is double-teamed by Bath's Kiley Dear, 19, and Meghan Collins, 8, during their Division II district final matchup on Saturday.

Additional online story on this date
Regional Cross Country at Tiffin
TIFFIN - A muddy course with some hills resulted in some challenges that local runners had not seen in the last three weeks.
For some, the challen [More]
Subscriber and paid stories on this date
Rockford
ROCKFORD - The current and former mayor are vying for Rockford's top seat in next week's general election. Both candidates said bringing more jobs to the village is the number one issue.
Rockford
ROCKFORD - The three candidates for two open seats on Rockford Village Council want to attract more businesses to town while trimming the budget.
Candidates are incumbents Gary Hodge and Greg Pontsler and newcomer Brent Vogel.
ROCKFORD - Three candidates are vying for two Parkway school board seats in next week's general election, and each cited finances and budget cuts as the school's largest issues.
Division II District Volleyball at Liberty-Benton High School
FINDLAY - When it comes to winning, the gymnasium at Liberty-Benton High School has become as much a home to the Celina Bulldogs' volleyball team as is the Intermediate School.
Regional Cross Country at Troy
TROY - For the first time in a dozen seasons, the Celina girls' cross country team arrived at the Division II regional in hopes of advancing to the state tournament next weekend.
Two area runners made the trek to Boardman High School in Youngstown for the Division III regional cross country meet on Saturday.
New Bremen's Derek Bornhorst wrapped up his cross country career with a 69th-place finish, crossing the finish line in 19:32.88.