Another classic battle

ELIDA - Just like the first matchup between the teams, Wednesday's St. Marys-Celina Division II girls soccer district semifinal match looked deadlocked most of the way and came down to a lucky bounce.

Once again, it was St. Marys coming out on top, as Celina keeper Kennedy Henry couldn't corral a long shot from Lydia Will with less than five minutes remaining, and Lil Ankerman scored on the rebound to give the Roughriders a 2-1 win in the district semifinals at Elida Middle School.

"They were pounding the net," Celina coach Eric Gerker said. "When you're playing a team like that, you can only fend them off for so long."

With the win, St. Marys (15-3-1) advances to face Bath in the district final at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Bath (15-2-1) defeated Elida 2-0 in the other semifinal. The Roughriders won the regular season meeting 2-0 at Roughrider Field.

The Roughriders held the ball consistently after the opening minutes of the game, but couldn't convert on scoring chances. In the first 11 minutes after halftime, the Roughriders took five shots on goal and earned a corner kick and two direct shots. Henry kept St. Marys off the board in that stretch and well into the second half.

As the clock ticked down and the game seemed headed to overtime, Will received a pass down the left side and took a long shot on goal. Henry got in front of it, but couldn't secure the rebound, and Ankerman was close enough to fire it into the back of the net.

Henry finished with 11 saves.

"She was peppered for 20-plus minutes in a row, she had some great saves," Gerker said. "She played a whale of a game. Nothing to hang her head about."

Celina (10-4-4) opened the scoring in the first two minutes on a fluky goal of its own, as a goalie kick went off a Roughrider defender, leading to a loose ball in front of the net. Ellie Hitchcock swooped in and tucked it inside the left post with 38:28 remaining in the first half.

"Game started in a funky way," St. Marys coach Nick Wilson said. "That was very fluky, if you will, or just not executed well by (keeper) Kiley (Tennant). But that stemmed from poor marking getting the ball through."

That was all the scoring the Bulldogs could muster, though, as St. Marys controlled the ball most of the match. After several missed opportunities in the first half, Will gathered a rebound on the back post and tied the game with 24:49 left before halftime.

Three weeks ago, the Roughriders broke a 0-0 tie with 13 minutes remaining on a ball that bounced over Henry's head, going on to a 2-0 win in the 2020 Grand Lake Derby.

Although the score was closer the second time around, St. Marys was much more in control.

"We knew it was going to be a battle," Wilson said. "Always is. Coach Gerker might be one of the most technically sound coaches to make those adjustments across the board. To figure out a way to work through his defensive changes took a little doing."