Getting the bounces

CELINA - The 2020 edition of the St. Marys-Celina girls soccer contest was defensive slugfest through the first 67 minutes that turned on a St. Marys bounce.

Roughrider freshman Ella Jacobs arced a shot from around midfield that took a high bounce over the head of Celina keeper Kennedy Henry with 12:42 remaining to give the Roughriders a 1-0 lead.

Nine minutes later, Jacobs launched a direct shot into the scrum in front of the net, where Jewel Niekamp was there to head it in for a much-needed insurance goal to give St. Marys a 2-0 victory at the soccer stadium.

The win moves the Roughriders to 10-3-1 and keeps the team in front of Bath in the Western Buckeye League standings at 7-0-1 (22 points). Bath defeated Van Wert 14-0 to move to 7-1-0 (21 points) in league play going into the Wildcats' final league match against Shawnee on Tuesday.

"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, and we'll take that crazy bounce on that big ball," said St. Marys coach Nick Wilson. "Ella Jacobs has been putting those deep balls on frame all season long, and I've been saying she's due. Tonight it worked out."

Celina had a couple opportunities after Jacobs scored, but the second goal put the game away.

"That was the dagger," Wilson said. "That was a big one. Sometimes you play so hard and one of those goes in the back of the net, and it takes the wind out of your sails. Hats off to Celina."

Until Jacobs' goal, neither team had been able to get much going in the second half. The only shot on goal after halftime belonged to Celina.

Before the half, both offenses left opportunities on the board. Celina racked up four corners, while the Roughriders missed two direct shots and went wide left on another scoring chance.

"We wanted to really attack certain parts of their defense, attack certain areas of the field, and I felt like we did really well with that in the first half," said Celina coach Eric Gerker. "Got some crosses off, got some opportunities in front of the net, just didn't get there."

St. Marys came into the game without leading scorer Lil Ankerman, who sat out after earning a red card last Saturday in the Roughriders' win over Anna.

"That's a big one, and sometimes somebody has to step up," said Wilson. "Tonight Aerial Fast won the game ball, in the middle, I think she played the most complete game for us. Jewel Niekamp got the head on it in the second half, and like I said Ella Jacobs has stepped in as a tremendous defender for us."

After the shutout, Celina (7-3-4, 3-2-3) moves on to a Saturday match with Coldwater before a final league game against Van Wert. St. Marys travels to Fort Jennings on Monday before wrapping up WBL play on Tuesday against winless Defiance.

"It's just one of those things that's been our kryptonite all year, getting the ball in the back of the net," said Gerker. "We work really hard, we just don't get that validation of our efforts."