Roughriders shut out Cavs for 2-0 victory

COLDWATER - St. Marys' girls soccer team scored twice in the first half and used a stingy defense to defeat the Coldwater Cavaliers 2-0 on Thursday at Coldwater Village Hall Soccer Field.

St. Marys (3-2-1) put early pressure on Coldwater goalie Alanna Severt. Tarin Tischler put a shot on goal and Severt was able to make the save before the richochet went to the Roughriders' Courtney Hemlinger, who blasted a shot from the top of the 10-yard box over the crossbar.

St. Marys got on the scoreboard with 33:17 left in the opening half when Sara Little picked a loose ball just inside the Coldwater half of midfield and took several long strides before blistering a shot past Severt for a 1-0 lead.

It took St. Marys nearly 20 minutes of pressure to finally score its second goal. Samantha Wilson made a run to the top of the box and tried to make a pass to a cutting winger but the ball was knocked loose by the Coldwater defense. However, the ball bounced into the path of Cami Menchoefer, who put a foot on the ball and scored past a leaning Severt.

"When you struggle to score goals, like we have this year, every goal is huge," said Coldwater coach Scott Brinkman. "We played kids in different positions today. Yeah we had some break downs, but the only way you get better is to play hard."

"I was not particularly pleased with the way we played today," said St. Marys coach Paul Dingledine. "We got that early goal and than we got that goal late in the half on a nice play by Cami Menchoefer. Other than those two plays, we just seemed to want to bounce the ball and not make crisp passes. We were just kicking the ball, hoping something good would happen. I don't like to play that way and that is not the style of soccer we play."

Although they were not able to score any goals, the Cavaliers came alive in the final 40 minutes of play, matching St. Marys shot for shot (five each) and actually had the better of the scoring chances.

Fifteen minutes in the second half, Coldwater's Lexi Depweg took a pass from Ashley Tobe at the top of the 25-yard box and Depweg blasted a shot that just sailed over the crossbar.

In the span of five minutes, the Cavaliers had two more good scoring opportunities. In the 18th minute, Tobe took a ball at the top of the 25-yard box and blasted a shot that sailed just wide of the goal.

Finally, at the 23-minute mark, Holly Rindler sent a corner kick to the top of the box to Anna Kahlig, who sailed a shot just over the crossbar.

"I told the girls that if we play with the same heart and desire that we displayed in the second half, good things are going to happen," said Brinkman. "In the second half we played with passion and that excitement translated into what I told the girls, was our best half of soccer that we played this year."

St. Marys returns to action on Monday with a road trip to Elida for a Western Buckeye League match. Coldwater hits the road on Saturday, traveling to Vandalia-Butler.