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St. Marys' Liz Schloemer (31) tries to find an open teammate to pass to during Saturday's Division II girls soccer sectional final with Bryan at Roughrider Field.
ST. MARYS - Just like the first meeting in August, St. Marys and Bryan played each other tough.
Unfortunately for the Roughriders, the outcome was different this time around.
Kailee Thiel's knock-in of Ella Voigt's corner kick with 5:44 remaining in the second overtime allowed Bryan to end St. Marys' season 2-1 in the Division II girls soccer sectional final at Roughrider Field on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Bears (14-2-0) head to Elida on Wednesday to face Shawnee in the 7:15 p.m. district semifinal. The Roughriders finish at 10-6-3.
"The only way to go out happy to win it all in Columbus," said St. Marys coach Nick Wilson. "To go out this early is definitely disappointing, but there is absolutely no reason for the girls to hang their heads, because they battled pretty darn tough through the whole match."
The first meeting, a 2-1 win for St. Marys at Bryan on Aug. 15, was decided on a goal with 25 minutes remaining. Saturday's game had a feel that the Roughriders could pull it off again, despite trailing 1-0 at halftime on Ava Zimmerman's goal with 12:20 remaining in the first half.
St. Marys' Aerial Fast (24) moves to avoid a Bryan defender during Saturday's match.
The Roughriders tried hard to find a goal against the Bryan goalkeeping tandem of Mylie Vollmer and Calysta Wasson, but were denied for the first 57 minutes of the match. The leveling goal came with 22:21 when Aerial Fast broke through and scored on Wasson to knot the match at 1-all.
"We started a little slow and on our heels," said Wilson. "We got reorganized in the second half and, for all intents and purposes, dominated the second half."
While St. Marys were only able to find one more chance to score in regulation, Bryan, after peppering St. Marys keeper Ella Jacobs with 10 shots on goal in the first half - with Jacobs making nine big saves - was limited to one shot in the second half.
St. Marys' Jordyn Glass (34) tries to kick the ball away from a pair of Bryan defenders.
The teams came out for the first 15-minute sudden victory overtime trying to get something going. Bryan had one chance at goal that sailed over the bar, but St. Marys was unable to get any chances at a winning score.
The second overtime started to look as if it would be going to the penalty kicks round as neither team could find any momentum early. Then, with the clock under six minutes, the Golden Bears were awarded a corner kick.
Voigt, whose earlier corner try in overtime bent too far and went out of bounds, found the middle of the goal area. As players from both teams tried to get control, Thiel got her foot on the ball and put it past Jacobs to end the match, as Jacobs stayed on the ground in disbelief.
"To go out on a corner kick, there's no good way to go out, but that's always a tough one," said Wilson. "When the draw came out, (Bryan) came right at us specifically. We knew we were in for a battle and we got it."
"Tough to see a bunch of seniors in tears afterwards, but they played their hearts out."
