Ottawa-Glandorf’s Myka Aldrich attempts to get the ball past Cincinnati Country Day’s Megan Zimmerman during Friday night’s Division III state championship match at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
COLUMBUS — During this year’s Division III girls soccer tournament, the Ottawa Glandorf Titans have seen a lot of familiar foes.
In the state semifinal, they faced Akron Manchester; the team they defeated last year at the same junction of the tournament and Friday night at Historic Crew Stadium, the Titans matched up with the Cincinnati Country Day Nighthawks, the team that defeated them in the championship match last year.
The Hawks bested O-G last year 1-0 on a ricochet shot late in the contest a year ago and the Titans were looking for some redemption.
However, this time it would be a corner kick from Elizabeth Zimmerman that found the noggin of her twin sister Megan finding the back of the net to provide the lone goal and give CCD a 1-0 victory and their second consecutive state championship.
Country Day started off quick, pressing the Titans defense from the start. O-G had its first opportunity at 34:14 to go in the first half on a Delany Duling free kick, but the shot went too high, keeping the score at zero.
Titans sophomore goalkeeper, Karsyn Erford was stellar in the net, turning away CCD attempts. The lone goal came at the 21:27 mark of the first half.
“It was a really hard fought game out there I can’t say enough about what the senior class means to me and what this senior class means to our program,” Titans coach Michelle Maag said.” They brought us to new heights. We’ve got three consecutive state title games and you don’t get that with luck. You get that because these kids work hard. They deserve all the credit.”
O-G picked up the intensity later in the half, but just couldn’t find the back of the net. Myka Aldrich sent a shot in from 40 yards out that Hawks keeper Alyssa Easter just got a finger on to send over the net. Mackenzie Recker had an opportunity with 5:33 to go in the half, but the shot sailed high over the crossbar.
Erford continued to be brilliant in the second half, keeping the Nighthawks at just one goal, while the Titans offense kept plugging away with opportunities to get on the board. Free kicks at the 25:54 and 18:08 marks in the match came up short. The biggest chance for O-G came with 1:44 go on a shot by Aldrich from 10 yards out, the delivery banked off a Hawks defender and was cleared out.
“I think their coach over there is just somebody who does things the right way and right if you’re going to go down, you want to go down to somebody who’s that good,” Maag said.
Dave Boninsegna wrote this story for LimaScores.com. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
