Bulldogs rally to edge the Cavaliers

CELINA - Both Scott Brinkman and Cal Freeman had positives to take away from Saturday's Coldwater-Celina girls soccer match.

The Cavaliers had its best showing in eight meetings with the Bulldogs, but Celina left the field slightly happier after their squad rallied from down 0-2 at the half to beat the Cavaliers 3-2 at the soccer stadium.

"I was pleased with how we played," said Brinkman, the Cavaliers coach. "I thought we played well. We played good soccer for us."

"(It was) a good second half," Celina coach Freeman said. "First half, we made some mistakes and Coldwater capitalized on them with some nice efforts."

The first half was a great one for Coldwater, which had been outscored 51-0 in the previous seven meetings with their Mercer County neighbor. Five and a half minutes into the match, Abby Schritz fired a perfect pass to Mara Dues, who put the ball past Celina keeper Chloe Russell to give the Cavaliers their first-ever goal and the lead.

Ten minutes later, Maura Hoying took a direct at the top of the goal box. The kick ricocheted back to nearly the exact spot Hoying kicked. The second try by the Coldwater junior was on mark to make it 2-0, which held up until the half.

"Mara was right where she was supposed to be on Abby's far-post (crossing pass)," Brinkman said. "Maura Hoying took the free kick, was blocked and worked hard to get it back to put it right over the goalie's head."

Celina quickly got back into the match in the second half. Five minutes in, Alyssa Cisco broke free and scored on Cavalier keeper Gracie Bruns. to make it 2-1.

Thirteen minutes after the first goal, the Bulldogs picked up the equalizer when Reilly Cox made a pass to fellow freshman Alexa Billger, who scored to level the match. Two minutes later, Larisa Orick made it 3-2 with an unassisted goal.

"Obviously, we had a nice talk at halftime and made some adjustments," Freeman said. "Girls came out and executed. We're fortunate to come back and win."

Coldwater had several chances to tie the match, but Russell made several big saves and several other shots just missed the mark.

"They found a few holes," Brinkman said. "We did good job of covering. Their goals were (due to) spectacular breakdowns on our part, which was good. They were good goals Celina earned."

Celina (6-3-3, 4-1-3 WBL) has a chance to win a Western Buckeye League title on Tuesday when Kenton comes to town. The Bulldogs are one point back of Elida in the standings. An Elida loss and Celina win would give Celina the title with other scenarios depending on outcomes from several other games as Wapakoneta, St. Marys, Defiance and Shawnee also have opportunities to claim a share of the title. Coldwater (8-5-2), which lost for the first time in eight matches, hosts Shawnee on Saturday in the regular season finale.