Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Roughriders edge Bulldogs, 1-0

Division II District Soccer at Celina

By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Gary R. Rasberry/The Daily Standard

St. Marys' Molly Hertenstein, 17, pushes the ball up the field with Celina's Tracy Donovan defending during Division II district semifinal action at Celina. The Roughriders defeated the Bulldogs 1-0.

CELINA - A very stingy defense and a well-placed boot by Kelly Heitkamp helped the St. Marys Roughriders advance to Saturday's Division II district final.
Heitkamp scored a goal off a 35-yard boot with 35 1/2 minutes left to play in the match and St. Marys' defense kept Celina from getting the equalizer for a 1-0 win over the Bulldogs at Celina Soccer Stadium on Wednesday night.
The Roughriders (13-1-4) will face Bath, who upset Western Buckeye League champ Shawnee 6-2, at Elida on Saturday with a 2 p.m. start for a berth to the regionals. The Bulldogs end a successful campaign at 12-2-4.
"This means a lot," said St. Marys' coach Paul Dingledine. "They (Celina) don't lose on this field very often. Like Kelly said, to come in here and shut them out (the first time St. Marys has shut out Celina) on their own field is huge for us."
For the first 40 minutes, it appeared that the second St. Marys-Celina girls' soccer matchup was a carbon copy of the first one. In the first meeting, St. Marys scored early in the second half, only to have Celina come back and get the tie with less than two minutes left.
Round two in the Grand Lake rivalry looked to be headed to overtime after a scoreless first half of play. Celina peppered Roughriders' keeper Paige Dicus with five shots in the first half, while holding St. Marys to just two shots, both saved by Elizabeth Laffin.
"Both teams played hard. I think they were evenly matched," said Celina's coach Cal Freeman. "They played hard, we played hard."
As the second half began, St. Marys was looking for a spark and Heitkamp proved to be the catalyst.
Despite being nearly out-of-bounds, Heitkamp kept the ball in play and escaped a Celina defender to get an open look at the goal. From 35 yards out, Heitkamp lofted a deep fly toward the goal that, she later admitted was more of a crossing pass. Laffin was unable to get a good read on it and the ball landed in the back of the net with 35:42 on the clock for a 1-0 Roughriders' lead.
"It picked us up tremendously," said Dingledine. "She said it was a cross, but I've seen so many goals scored this year (like that). She put it in the direction of the goal."
Freeman, who has seen his team stymied by similar goals late this season, could only watch in disbelief.
"You've seen the goal. It is what it is," said Freeman. "Goalie didn't get back in time, went over the top of her. It's the unfortunate part of the game, depending on which side of the field you're on."
Celina tried five shots on goal in the second half, with Dicus needing to make saves on four of them.
If the wind wasn't out of Celina's sails after the goal, the loss of Alex Parker to a knee injury with 12:43 to go, which required her to be carried off the field by stretcher, all but sealed the Bulldogs' fate.
"It kind of lets the wind out of the sails," said Freeman. "The girls tried to pick it up, but there's that pit in the stomach that when you lose one of your best players, (especially) one that was controlling that area (midfield) of the field. They were crying. It's hard, that emotional surge that is there, to be able to refocus that and put it on the field rather than be caught in the emotion. It's tough."
"Kristen Vehorn and Jamie James took charge. They just said 'We're not going to let it happen again.'," said Dingledine of preventing a tying score by Celina. "...They took charge and let the girls know that no matter what it takes, get the job done."
Photo by Gary R. Rasberry/The Daily Standard

Celina's Kari Donovan throws the ball into play against St. Marys during Wednesday's Division II girls' soccer district semifinal match.

Photo by Gary R. Rasberry/The Daily Standard

Celina's Molly Waterman, 12, and St. Marys' Maho Dokai, 24, chase after a loose ball during their postseason matchup on Wednesday.

Additional online stories on this date
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The Mercer County Sheriff's Office has upgraded its website, www.mercercountysheriff.org.
The revised format was unveiled this week with the work being done in-house by technology coordinator Kory Hoffhines. [More]
Subscriber and paid stories on this date
Optometrist's wife testifies in second day of husband's rape trial
WAPAKONETA - A local optometrist admitted in an interview last year "it's very possible" he mistakenly touched the elderly woman he's accused of raping in his home in October 2009.
Early voting by absentee ballot has been steady in both Mercer and Auglaize counties this election season, according to officials.
Mercer County Bo
CELINA - The city now has eight voting precincts, not 10.
Mercer County Board of Elections members this week unanimously approved the changes required by House Bill 194, which mandates incorporated municipalities have at least 500 active registered voters in a precinct.
Tamara "Tammy" Evers of St. Henry, a former baby sitter found guilty in the July 2008 death of an infant in her care, will be sentenced Dec. 20 in Mercer County Common Pleas Court.
ST. MARYS - School officials agree tennis courts should be built at the new Memorial High School but are undecided on a design.
The school board's building and grounds committee Wednesday reviewed nine options for tennis courts presented by MSA Sport of Cincinnati.
CELINA - No way she'd ever write a book, she thought. Not until she woke up one morning with the idea in mind right down to the title - "Bloom Girl Bloom: Real Women with Real Answers." Now she's even working on a second book.
Division II District Volleyball at Liberty-Benton High School
FINDLAY - A pair of Western Buckeye League teams will square off for a second time this season on Saturday evening with a district championship hanging in the balance.
Division III District Volleyball at Kalida
KALIDA - The Ottawa-Glandorf Titans rallied from a poor first set to defeat the Coldwater Cavaliers 24-26, 25-21, 25-18 and 25-17 in the semifinals of the Division III district tournament on Wednesday night at Kalida High School.
Computer Point Projections
Last week, an upset was brewing in Coldwater.
New Bremen (0-8) stayed close to Coldwater (6-2) all night and the Cardinals trailed by just two points and had the ball in the final two minutes with a chance to stun fans throughout the area.
The last time the Midwest Athletic Conference had three teams share the football championship was in 1989, when St. Henry, Minster and Delphos St. John's each went 5-1. Later that year, Minster went on to win the Division V state title.
The Celina football team will wrap up a disappointing 2011 season on Friday night with a road contest against Bath.
Good news has been few and far
By The Numbers:
2 - Out of the three previous occurrences, the number of times Coldwater was part of three-way tie for the MAC title (1975, 1987).
3 - Out of the three previous occurences, the number of times Minster was part of the three-way tie.