Shawnee’s two second-half goals hand Roughriders’ first WBL loss.
Indians take control of league race
SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — Monday’s Western Buckeye League game does not necessarily define St. Marys’ season, it’s what the Roughriders do after their 2-1 loss to Shawnee that will be more telling.
Vying for first place in the WBL and a chance to knock off a stateranked team, St. Marys held a 1-0 lead for as long as it could before No. 11 Shawnee put a pair of soccer balls in the back of the net to hand the Roughriders a 2-1 defeat.
“Now we build for the playoffs,” Roughriders coach Josh Hertenstein said. “All WBL games still matter, there is a chance to finish second but we just have to make sure that everyone else is behind us.”
The loss puts St. Marys (5-2-1, 3-11 WBL) in a tie with Kenton (3-1-1) — who the Riders play on Thursday — and gives the Indians (7-2-0, 4-00) a nice cushion from the rest of the league.
Adam Tobin gave the Roughriders the lead with 10:45 remaining in the first half when he received the punt from Correy Nelson from midfield, drove the ball down the left side of the field, beating a Zach Chambers with his speed and the senior shot the ball to the right side of the net past Shawnee goalkeeper Landon Hoehn.
“Everything he did tonight was with pure will,” Hertenstein said of Tobin. “He just kicked it into second gear and we haven’t seen him play like that all season but he had a good game tonight.”
And with Tobin’s goal, the Roughriders had their first lead on a Shawnee team at the half since leading 3-2 in a Sept. 13, 2017 game at Roughrider Field. That game ended in a 4-4 tie. Now, St. Marys has suffered three consecutive 2-1 losses to
the Tribe.
“We knew they were going to come out hard in the first five minutes so we dropped back and got a little bit defensive just to hold off the initial onslaught,” Hertenstein added. “Then we went out of that and the guys just weren’t as aggressive.
“That was the difference, we weren’t aggressive in the second half.”
The Indians attacked in the second half, limiting the Roughriders on offense, and eventually broke through with 17:32 remaining in the second half by Alex McGuire — who took a shot before Nelson could steal the ball from him.
Shawnee was looking to take the lead on a penalty kick under 10 minutes left in the game, but Nelson dove to his left to block Sam Tenwalde’s PK attempt kept the game at 1-1. Nelson finished the evening with eight saves.
“Correy is coming into his own after the offseason and coming off his injury but he is playing well right now,” Hertenstein added.
But moments later, Tenwalde connected with a blooper over Nelson’s head for the score with 7:22 remaining.
And while the loss puts a damper on the Roughriders chances for a WBL title, Hertenstein hopes the loss catapults the team to a run, much like it did last year.
The Riders lost to Shawnee 2-1 for their first league loss of the season, but after a tie to Kenton three days later, St. Marys never lost or tied in league play and rallied off wins in eight of their final 10 games to finish second in the league —the best finish for the program since winning the WBL in 2014.
Let’s hope history repeats itself.
St. Marys also lost the junior varsity game 3-2. Parker Wilson scored twice on assists from Wyatt Chapman and Javier Gonzales.