St. Marys’ Jordyn Glass attempts a pass against Bath’s Faith Clark (15) during Tuesday’s match at St. Marys. See more high school soccer photos at LimaScores.com.
ST. MARYS — Bath could have chosen to take a bye in the first round of the girls Division II sectional soccer tournament.
However, the Wildcats chose to face No. 1 seed St. Marys in the opening round Tuesday night.
After St. Marys scored two goals in the first 10 minutes of Tuesday’s sectional semifinal at Roughrider Field, Bath found a way to slow the Roughriders down for the rest of the way.
However, St. Marys managed to hold off the Wildcats down the stretch, and hang on for a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Bath.
St. Marys (15-2-1) will advance to Saturday’s sectional final to face winless Van Wert. Saturday’s sectional final is set for noon at St. Marys.
Bath ends its season 5-7-4.
Tuesday’s inclement weather conditions definitely made things a little more challenging.
“I told them, between yesterday and this morning, ‘No excuses’,” St. Marys head coach Nick Wilson said. “We knew it was going to be lousy weather; and they came out the first eight minutes and played like it wasn’t raining, it wasn’t cold. … Then, they did (play like it was raining and cold).
“So, sometimes you’re happy to sneak by with an ugly win. The first eight to ten minutes was beautiful. I was more than pleased with how they played, early on.”
Less than eight minutes into the contest, senior midfielder Morgan Hesse scored off a fastbreak for the Roughriders.
Then, about two minutes later, senior forward Krista Ruppert found the back of the net when she got inside the box and was able to push it through.
St. Marys went into the halftime break with a 2-0 lead.
In the first 40 minutes of action, St. Marys and Bath each had three shots on goal.
In the second half, Bath finally got on the board, when senior Abby Rakay drove a shot by St. Marys goalkeeper Ella Jacobs (four saves) with a shot just right outside the box at the 11:27 mark.
For the game, Bath outshot St. Marys 5-4.
“Hats off to (Bath head coach) Steve (Smucker) and his crew,” Wilson said. “When it came to the (tournament) selection, they had a chance to take a bye, and they came at us. So, we knew that they had something dialed up; and they sure did.”
For the game, St. Marys took a total of seven corner kicks. Bath took just one. Bath goalkeeper Kyla Bailey had two saves.
During the regular season, St. Marys defeated Bath, 2-0.
“You wouldn’t expect anything less with a WBL opponent,” Wilson said, in reference to Tuesday’s close game. “The difference is that it’s the second-season situation – you win and advance, or lose and go home. They (Bath) threw the kitchen sink at us. We were able to withstand it. It wasn’t the prettiest thing, but we will take it.”
Mark Altstaetter wrote this story for LimaScores.com. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
