Riders oust Defiance
Memorial to play Wapak in sectional title tilt
ST. MARYS — The playoffs, even the early rounds, are a different animal.
St. Marys battled its way to a 2-1 win over
Defiance in a Division II boys soccer sectional semifinal match on Monday at Roughrider Field.
The Roughriders improved to 11-3-3 overall on the year. Defiance finished at 5-9-3.
Defiance struck first with a goal about 15 minutes in. About 10 minutes later, St. Marys responded with a pair of scores a few minutes apart.
The teams continued to battle, at times very intensely, but the Riders defense held
up and held on for the win.
St. Marys will host #6 seed Wapakoneta
on Thursday. The Roughriders won the regular season meeting 4-3.
Coach Josh Hertenstein said that there is a challenge in playing a team for a second time, “because you
know each other so well.” He added that
the Riders will work to possess the ball and play loose.
St. Marys controlled the game for large
stretches on Monday, outshooting the Bulldogs 14-2. The Roughriders had 14 corner kicks, versus just one for Defiance.
After a couple corner kicks in the early going for St. Marys, Defiance had a shot from
distance that went wide right of the goal.
A few minutes later, A.J. Dieringer got a
shot from the left side, which was saved by keeper Ethan Steece.
With 25 minutes to go, the Bulldogs made a drive into the offensive zone. Riders keeper Cayden Ballweg came up to defend, but got caught
out of position. Junior Tyler Frederick of the
Bulldogs converted on the chance, parking the ball in the right
corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
With 19 minutes to go, Defiance’s martin
Saavedra had a direct kick which went high and wide to the right of the goal mouth.
Playing the ball near the end line, senior Joey Vanderhorst
kicked the ball ahead. It deflected off the foot
of a Bulldogs player and rolled toward the
net. Steece stretched out but couldn’t block it before it rolled just inside the right post, tying it with16:44 to go. Connor Milner collected an assist on the play.
Just over three minutes after that, the Riders took the lead
on a score by junior David Wermuth, with Vanderhorst providing the assist.
Things continued to swing back and forth. With 7:45 to go, the
Defiance bench was given a yellow card for comments about the officials’ calls.
Dieringer drove down the field with 6 1/2 minutes left. He chipped a shot at the
net, but popped it over the top.
With 2:35 to go, Wyatt Chapman had a
shot from close range that was saved by Steece.
After the halftime break, Dieringer had a header glance off the crossbar. Quinn Holtzapple then sped
down the middle of the field, with his shot being deflected away.
Holtzapple had another scoring chance on a direct kick from
near the midfield circle, but it too hit off the crossbar, leaving it a 1-goal game.
Defiance continued to keep the pressure
on. With 23 minutes to go, the Bulldogs’ Viktor Jurcevich.
Two Defiance players were assessed yellow cards as time continued to wind down.
Ballweg made a deflection of a Defiance kick with about three
minutes to go, and the Roughriders then killed off the remaining time for the win.
Notes
Clear weather for the game, with a nearly full moon providing a nice backdrop.
The winner of St. Marys and Wapakoneta will meet the winner of Elida and
Ottawa-glandorf. Elida defeated Libertybenton 2-0 on Monday.
In the upper half of the bracket, Celina will play at Kenton
and Shawnee will host the winner of Upper
Sandusky and Van Wert.