Friday, September 28th, 2018

Roughriders roll

St. Marys tops Celina 5-1 in Battle of Grand Lake

By Colin Foster
Photo by Colin Foster/The Daily Standard

St. Marys' Tabby Knous, 2, controls the ball as Celina's Nicole Fennig gives chase during Thursday's game at the soccer stadium in Celina.

CELINA - Celina girls soccer coach Eric Gerker had positive remarks about the play of his team after Monday's tie with Wapakoneta.
But there weren't a lot of positives for the Bulldogs on Thursday.
That same Celina team that had battled goal-for-goal with Wapakoneta earlier in the week couldn't keep pace with St. Marys in a 5-1 loss at the soccer stadium.
Lilly Ankerman and Emma Wibbler scored a pair of goals each for the Roughriders. Madison Rust added the other as St. Marys improved to 6-3-1 overall and 5-1-1 in Western Buckeye League play.
The Roughriders have now scored five goals in back-to-back victories (they beat Bath 5-1 on Monday). It also marked the fourth time this season they scored at least five goals.
"We're starting to click," St. Marys coach Nick Wilson said.
Early in the game, St. Marys peppered the goal but to no avail. Ankerman got the first goal to go with 21:11 remaining in the first half. Five minutes later, Rust bent a direct kick just over the outstretched hand of Celina goalie Kennedy Henry, the ball deflected downward off the top cross bar and into the goal.
Forty seconds later, Carley Eichler scored to cut Celina's deficit to 2-1, which is where it stood at the intermission.
Henry staved off a St. Marys breakaway with an acrobatic save moments into the second half, but the Riders had the Bulldogs on their heels the rest of the night.
The Roughriders finished with a 14-10 edge in shots on goal.
Wibbler scored both of her goals in the second half and Ankerman added her second, too.
"We work extensively on passing," Wilson said. "That short give-and-go, we do the same drill every practice. They hate it. But this is where we're at. It's really working. I'm blessed as a coach to have interchangeable parts in almost every spot. I've got speed at many, many spots, and when they put it to use and they connect, opportunities present themselves."
Both St. Marys goalie Emma White and Celina's Henry made nine saves.
Gerker declined to comment after the game.
St. Marys travels to meet Anna on Saturday. Celina (5-3-3) visits Van Wert on Tuesday.
Photo by Colin Foster/The Daily Standard

St. Marys' Lilly Ankerman, 12, sneaks the first of her two goals past Celina keeper Kennedy Henry.

Additional online story on this date
CELINA - Skydiving may be a once-in-a-lifetime, bucket-list item for some, but Celina resident Brian Nedderman, 48, has done it more than 2,000 times [More]
Subscriber and paid stories on this date
Cost estimated at $1.75M
CELINA - County officials have the final funding necessary to proceed with the proposed Carthagena sanitary sewer project.
Mercer County commission
United Entertainment Corp. has purchased Chakeres Theatres' Celina and Springfield locations.
The two will be UEC Theatres' fourth and fifth theate
MARIA STEIN - A bike tour and rodeo is being held in Marion Township Park on Sunday to raise money to plan and create multiuse paths in the Marion communities.
Ohio's senators, Republican Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown, had deeply divergent views on Thursday's testimony by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh about the judge's nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court.
CELINA - County commissioners on Thursday moved to make more than $20,000 in repairs to a nearly four-decade-old air-conditioning unit in the Mercer County Central Services Building, the home of several county agencies.
Tournament Golf
Compiled by Colin Foster
The top two boys golf teams in the Midwest Athletic Conference showed up in a big way at the Division III sectional tournament on Thursday at the Colonial Golfers Club in Allen County.
Area Roundup
Marion Local traveled to Fort Recovery and left with a big three-set victory over the Indians in an MAC battle between state-ranked teams on Thursday night.