Monday, October 31st, 2022
Perseverance
St. Marys rallies from 0-2 deficit to win district championship
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
St. Marys goalkeeper Ella Jacobs (1) gets a hug from teammate Aerial Fast after the Roughriders won the penalty kick shootout to defeat Liberty-Benton in the Division II district girls soccer final on Saturday in Elida. The Roughriders advance to the regional for the first time since 2020.
ELIDA - Liberty-Benton became just the second team this season to score more than one goal against St. Marys this season when the Eagles took the lead with 4:46 remaining in the first half.
That was all the Roughriders would allow during the rest of regulation and in overtime.
St. Marys tied the game with just under nine minutes to play in regulation, then after 30 minutes of scoreless overtime won a penalty kick shootout 4-3 to capture the Division II girls soccer district championship over Liberty-Benton on Saturday afternoon at the Elida Sports Complex at Elida Middle School.
The Roughriders (18-2-1) travel to Bowling Green High School on Tuesday at 6 p.m. to play in their first regional semifinal since 2020 against Maumee. The Panthers defeated Oak Harbor 1-0 at the Millbury Lake district to advance. Liberty-Benton wraps up its season at 11-4-4
"I experienced (regional) my freshman year and I was pumped back then," said St. Marys' junior goalkeeper Ella Jacobs. "I'm excited."
The two teams have played stingy defense all season, with the Eagles having allowed just 16 goals to St. Marys' eight coming into Saturday.
For the first 20 minutes, the defenses shut each other town with St. Marys having three solid chances at the Eagle net but missing while L-B did not get a shot on goal through the first 20 minutes.
That changed with the clock nearing 18 minutes to play in the half as L-B's Kylie Recker's shot on goal went off the post, but Carmen Hohman was on the spot for the rebound to make it 1-0.
Thirteen minutes passed with neither team denting the goal before L-B scored again as the Roughriders were called for a foul, setting up a direct kick 30 yards from the goal. Kaitlyn Eyink knocked what looked to be an easy scoop for Rider keeper Jacobs, but the ball got away from Jacobs and went into the back of the net with 4:46 to play in the half. The only other team to get two goals in a match with St. Marys this season was Ottawa-Glandorf when the Titans won 2-0 in Glandorf on Sept. 12.
"We knew we were in for a battle," said St. Marys coach Nick Wilson. "Coach (Andy) Modd has a tremendous squad that is dialed in to each game plan. "We knew we were going to get everything we had. We weren't expecting to be down 2-0."
"I was mad at myself because I let it go through," said Jacobs. "But I still had hope that our offense would pull through. They, in fact, did. I was happy we came back and they had my back."
Rather than despair, St. Marys got busy. The Eagles got called for a foul 30 yards from the goal with the clock nearing a minute remaining. Aerial Fast stepped up big time, putting the ball past Eagle keeper Natalie Parmalee with 68 seconds remaining in the half to halve the L-B lead.
St. Marys' defense locked down the Eagles, holding them to just one shot on goal in the second half while St. Marys kept the ball on the offensive side of the field. The time kept ticking away, but with 8:16 remaining in regulation, the Roughriders found the opening as Fast sneaked a pass inside to Morgan Hesse, who put it past Parmalee to tie the match up.
"Thankfully we were able to climb back in," said Wilson. "We took one back in the first half. That made halftime a little easier. I wasn't happy with the overall effort in the first half in winning the ball. Second half we were in much better shape."
Neither team had any decent chances in the first 15-minute sudden death overtime. In the second, the Eagles had their best chance to possibly end the match when they were awarded with a direct kick from just outside the goal box, but the shot went over the crossbar to give St. Marys the goal kick.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
St. Marys' Krista Ruppert kicks the ball during a penalty shot as Liberty-Benton keeper Natalie Parmalee waits to make her move.
After 30 minutes of scoreless OT, the game went to a best-of-five penalty kick round. St. Marys had the first chance to shoot in the alternating-shot event. Rather than go with leading goal-kicker Fast, Wilson had Emma Freewalt lead off, and Freewalt came through putting the ball into the lower-left part of the net. Emma Hooper took the first L-B shot, but Jacobs deflected it out of harm's way.
"I'm a bit of a stat nerd. I go with a bit of a gut reaction and a little bit of stats," said Wilson about his order of who was taking kicks. "I was most comfortable with Emma taking that first one. She walked up stone cold and delivered. That really helped."
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
St. Marys' Sophia Menker goes up for a header during Saturday's match with Liberty-Benton.
Sophia Menker went next for St. Marys and scored top-right. Recker got the Eagles on the board in the shootout by also going top-right off Jacobs. Krista Ruppert made it three straight with a top-shelf score. Eyink cut it to 3-2 with a shot to the right.
Reese Rable tried to put her PK to the right of Parmalee, but the Eagles keeper scooped up to keep it at 3-2. Ava Hatch scored in the top-right sector to tie the shootout at 3-3 with one shooter remaining for each team.
Fast got the call for the fifth try and answered in the affirmative, putting it lower-left to force L-B to score to put the match into sudden-death penalty kicks. Emily Kaltenbach attempted to go upper-right for her shot, but the ball sailed over the goal post and out of bounds to end the match as Roughriders ran toward Jacobs to celebrate.
"We were here two years ago," said Wilson, referring to winning the 2020 district title in a shootout against Bath. "I told them over and over they're taking years off my life. I don't like going to PKs, just win it in regulation would be even better. They like to challenge me."
