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Celina's Ali Hemmelgarn (7) drives the ball forward during Tuesday's WBL match against Defiance.
CELINA - It will be hard to find two more contrasting games of a doubleheader than Celina's soccer programs went through Tuesday. While the boys team conceded an early goal and fell to Shawnee 1-0, the girls made it look easy in an 11-0 win over Defiance to close out their Western Buckeye League campaign.
For the girls, it was a mix of emotions with the win, as it sees them finish the WBL season unbeaten at 5-0-3 and improve to 10-0-3 overall, but with Ottawa-Glandorf's win over Shawnee earlier in the day it means the Bulldogs finished second by just two league points.
"It's hard to be unhappy without a loss in the WBL," said Celina girls coach David Hammons. "I think it's one of the toughest leagues in the state when it comes to soccer. So the fact that there's going to be a zero in the loss collum and still finish second is bittersweet. If you would have told me we were going to go undefeated at the beginning of the season, I'd be pleased, but we did have a goal of winning the league too, so the girls are disappointed. At the end of the day, if you finish without a loss in this league, you're doing something right."
The scoring started early for Celina, as Ali Hemmelgarn took a great through ball from Campbelle Gass and calmly slotted it past the keeper just seven minutes in. An unlucky deflection by Defiance (2-14-1, 0-8) off a ball played into the box quickly made it 2-0 10 minutes into the match.
Hemmelgarn struck again with 26 minutes left in the half as a cross from Alexis Siefring just needed a tap from the sophomore to find the back of the net. Less than a minute later, Brenna Korte made it a 4-0 lead when her strong shot from the edge of the box found the net through some traffic.
Kirsten Garrity joined the goal fest not even 30 seconds later when she steered a cross from Maddie Rammel into the net to push the lead to 5-0. Garrity made it an even six goal lead with 24 minutes on the clock as she calmly controlled the ball and flicked it over the keeper's reach for her second of the day.
Ahead 6-0 and with subs flowing throughout, it took Celina a whole 14 minutes to find the net again. It was Korte who struck again with her effort from just outside the box, and it was a 7-0 lead.
The final goal of the first half came from Siefring, who took advantage of a misplayed cross and fired it home for the team's eighth. Celina had 16 shots on goal in the opening half, while keeper Alaina Vehorn had one collection.
Celina needed just five minutes to strike again in the second half. Miley Werntz had a one-on-one, and her shot ricocheted off the keeper's face and rolled into the net. The final two goals came over the closing 28 minutes, as Alexa Pearson and Annabelle Dabbelt put the cherries on top of the big win.
Celina closes out its regular season on Thursday against Sidney before opening its tournament play against Lima Senior on Oct. 20.
Celina's Hunter Messner (14) and Shawnee's Gavin Vondrell battle for control of the ball.
The Celina boys team found it hard to get past one of the best defenses in the WBL in Shawnee, and an early goal from the Indians was all they needed to pick up the win and move into first place in the league for the time being.
Just seven minutes into the match, Logan Vogelgesang was on the end of Preston Brinkman's cross to the back post, and easily finished off the chance to give Shawnee (10-4-1, 6-0-1) the lead.
Celina (9-5, 3-4) grew into the match as the half carried on, and earned a pair of good corners that saw the ensuing headers just a bit too high.
The Indians kept their lead by the end of the half, and had six total shots with five on target over the first 40 minutes. Celina had just two shots, both on target, in the half but were still searching for a goal.
As the second half carried on the Bulldogs kept pressing further and further up the field, but could not get a clear chance on goal. It looked as if Shawnee took advantage when a header found the back of the net on a corner with 21 minutes left, but a foul was called in the box to keep it at 1-0.
Shawnee kept control over the final 10 minutes with the Bulldogs chasing a goal, and eventually earned the physical WBL win.
"I don't think we played bad, we were just playing a really good team," said Celina boys coach Ryan Jenkins. "(Shawnee) possessed the ball really well and they had some guys in the middle that made it really tough. I thought we played better in the second half, just could not generate chances."
Celina keeper Braylon Steinbrunner finished with five saves in the effort. The Bulldogs hit the road to take on Defiance next in their WBL and season finale on Thursday before they open their tournament on Oct. 21 against Ottawa-Glandorf.
