Roughriders defeat Elida

ST. MARYS - Two first-half goals by senior Lil Ankerman got the St. Marys girls soccer team off and running and on its way to a 4-2 victory over Elida Monday night at Roughrider Field.

With its sixth consecutive victory, St. Marys remains unbeaten in the Western Buckeye League at 5-0-1 and improves to 7-3-1 overall.

Ankerman got the scoring started with a break-away run from midfield. She split the Elida defense and lifted a shot over the Bulldog goalie for a 1-0 lead at the 34.37 mark of the first half.

Ankerman made it 2-0 with 13:20 left in the half as she cleaned up a deflected pass in the box and found the corner of the goal.

"She just stays after it," St. Marys coach Nick Wilson said of Ankerman. "She's a bulldog. She wants to play every minute and she's a great asset to have on the team."

Less than two minutes into the second half, Tabby Knous got herself open from point-blank range, and connected to put the Roughriders up 3-0.

Elida tried to make things interesting. Annalee Jackson scored an unassisted goal with 28:36 left in the game to breakup the shutout.

Six minutes later Jackson had an excellent opportunity to make it a one goal game when she was fouled in the box for a penalty kick.

But St. Marys goalie Kylie Tennant dove to her left and came up with the save.

"That was huge," Wilson said. "Kiley was disappointed in herself to allow two goals tonight after stopping a PK. But her growth this season has been tremendous and the fact that she tracked that down that kick and swallowed it up was big."

Emma Birt gave the Riders an insurance goal with 6:30 left to play, while Elida tacked on a goal in the final four minutes to close out the scoring.

"I felt like we dominated the first half more than 2-0 at halftime," Wilson said. "I wasn't as thrilled with the second-half effort. I thought we let down a little, but all-in-all a good team win."

St. Marys turns its attention to Bath, which travels to St. Marys for a WBL showdown on Thursday. The Wildcats are ranked sixth in the state in the Division II coaches poll and went into Monday night's action at 5-0-0 in the WBL and 9-1-0 overall.

"As always the key to Bath is shutting down Chandler Clark, or at least minimize her opportunities," Wilson said of the reigning WBL Player of the Year. "She's a tremendous player. It's a cliche, but we have to score more than they score. That's the secret. If we can release Tabby (Knous) and Lil (Ankerman) to get a couple scores early, I'd love it."