So Close

FINDLAY - The way Celina and Oak Harbor were playing, it appeared it would take all night to decide a winner.

After eighty minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime with the score knotted at 1-1, the Division II girls soccer regional semifinal came down to penalty kicks.

The Bulldogs made their first three, but missed on their final two tries as the Rockets made four of five to win the semifinal at Graham Memorial Stadium in Findlay.

Oak Harbor (15-4-1) faces Mansfield Madison Comprehensive on Saturday at a venue and start time which has yet to be determined.

The Bulldogs end a solid season at 14-3-3.

The Rockets jumped out to the opening lead less than three minutes into the match as a crossing pass in the Celina goal box went off a knee of a Celina defender and past keeper Kennedy Henry with 37:14 remaining in the first half.

"I think we can agree that we didn't play well in regulation," said Celina coach Eric Gerker. "We weren't connecting on our passes and we were struggling with some of the fundamental things we've done all year. You can't come out and give up a goal in the first three minutes of play. Not at this level."

Celina had chances that just missed or were saved by Oak Harbor keeper Ripley St. Clair. Finally, the Dogs scored with 23:04 left in the first half when Makenna Klingshirn found Taylor Klingshirn on a pass with Taylor getting the goal to tie the match.

The remaining time in regulation and the two 15-minute overtimes had the teams playing scrappy defense to keep each other from getting the go-ahead goal.

"Both teams had chances. It was a dead-even game," said Gerker. "You get into overtimes anything can happen and in (penalty) kicks, definitely anything can happen.

"We did a good job at times controlling the run of play. but it wasn't consistent. If we were more consistent, we would have been able to generate more opportunities."

Oak Harbor went first on penalty kicks as Hannah Schulte put the ball past Henry. Mia Rolfes started Celina out right with a goal. Kaley Daniel put the Rockets' next try off the post and back out of harm's way while Taylor Klingshirn put the ball past St. Clair to give Celina a 2-1 edge. Kelsey Schling got the Rockets back on track with a goal to start the third round, but Makenna Klinghirn continued Celina's advantage with a score. In the fourth round, Haley Lenke scored as Reilly Cox looked to keep the Bulldogs perfect on their tries, but the shot was saved by St. Clair to tie the round at 3-3.

St. Clair took the final shot for the Rockets and put it in the back of the net to put the Rockets up 4-3. After St. Clair went back to defend, Jena Wilson stepped up for Celina needing a goal to send the match into a second round of kicks. The kick was right at St. Clair as she snagged the ball safely to end the game.

Gerker was proud of his team's play this season.

"The girls should be proud of what they accomplished this year," said Gerker. "Don't know if they knew at the start of the season that they'd get this far. They exceeded a lot of people's expectations, including their own. They have to be proud to get this far and putting up a fight tonight."