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Thursday, 18 October 2007 |
 Wapakoneta sophomore Becca Peachey tries to keep her balance as she dribbles past Shawnee’s Andia Shisler on Wednesday at Findlay High School. (Staff photo/ Joshua Keeran)
By JOSHUA KEERAN
Sports Editor
In high school soccer, the only thing more exciting than a shootout is a second shootout, which came into play on Wednesday night at Findlay High School as the Wapakoneta Redskins varsity girls soccer team battled the Shawnee Indians in first-round tournament action.
Two-and-a-half hours after the game’s first kick, the red-hot Redskins outlasted the Tribe, 2-1, in a second shootout.
“The girls played awesome,” Wapakoneta first-year varsity coach Mindy Erb said. “ It was a huge team effort, and it just proves our team unity because we stuck together and won.”
Earlier this season, both teams fought to a 1-1 tie at Wapakoneta High School.
With that in mind, the game was destined to be close, but no one could have imagined the game would go not one 15-minute overtime period, not two 15-minute overtimes, not one shootout, but into the second shootout before a winner was crowned.
By the time the game reached the second shootout, it became a matter of which team had the deeper roster considering both coaches had to go to their six, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th options to take a crack at the goal.
Following just four of the allotted five kicks from the penalty mark by Shawnee in the second shootout, the Indians found out the Redskins are indeed a squad to be reckoned with in the postseason by proving they know how to win as a team and not via a one or two person show.
In the second shootout, the Braves were unable to find the net in four attempts while Wapakoneta sealed the deal thanks to goals by junior Christie Steinke and freshman Amy Snider.
“We had ten girls that had to take the shots, but everyone else was on the sideline holding hands,” Erb said. “It was just a huge team thing. We knew we had to stick together as a team and complete what had to be taken care of.”
After a scoreless first half of play, Shawnee came out in the second half and struck early when Sheridan Balyeat delivered a perfect centering pass to teammate Sarah Silone, who did the rest as she snuck the ball past a diving Steinke in goal for Wapakoneta. The goal came at the 33:31 mark of the second half.
Entering the contest on a three-game winning streak and having won 5-of-6 games, the Redskins refused to let their season come to an end.
With 19:31 remaining in the game, Wapakoneta sophomore Cassie Schwartz got the Redskins going when she delivered a beautifully-placed touch pass over the head of a Shawnee defender that gave Snider a one-on-one matchup with Tribe goalie Rebecca Cobb. Snider ended up winning the battle as she was able to tap the ball past a diving Cobb to tie the game at 1-1.
After several attempts to win the game in regulation by the Redskins were snuffed out, the game went to a first 15-minute sudden death period that saw the Tribe miss out on several chances to advance because of outstanding work in goal
See THRILLER, Page 3B
by Steinke.
In the second 15-minute sudden death period, Steinke again saved her team from elimination on more than one occasion. Just when it appeared the Indians were on the verge of winning the game, Steinke made one outstanding stop after another.
With Steinke virtually impenetrable in the overtime periods, the Redskins entered the first shootout knowing they would have to win the game as a team because Steinke couldn’t win it on her own, although she tried.
“She was solid again. I’ve said many times that she is huge for us,” said Erb of Steinke’s impact on the squad. “She really proved herself tonight. There is just no words for what she did. She is just great.”
In the first shootout, Shawnee was able to score on 4-of-5 attempts and the Redskins matched that effort with goals by sophomore Becca Peachey, Schwartz, sophomore Kelly Faller and senior Nikki Bordner, who needed to score and hope for a Shawnee miss in order to send the game into a second shootout. Bordner did her part by blasting the ball into the top-right corner of the goal and then Shawnee’s Brooke Shultz missed her chance to win the game as her kick hit the top of the crossbar.
As for the late-season surge the Redskins are experiencing, Erb said it’s a result of a lot of dedication from each and everyone of her players.
“It goes back to the girls’ hard work,” she said. “They’ve never had a day off. They come to practice and we keep going back to the small things and keep improving.”
WHS (10-5-2) will take on the Findlay Trojans at 7 p.m. on Monday at Findlay High School in second-round play. The Trojans won their opening-round match 11-0 over Lima Senior. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 19 October 2007 )
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