By Cort Reynolds
The visiting Ada High School girls soccer team rallied late but fell just short 5-4 to local rival Allen East in the Northwest Conference opener Monday night at Goodwin Field in Harrod.
Ada falls to 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the NWC with their first defeat.
AE improved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the NWC with the win.
“It was a very tough loss with a lot of bright spots,“ said Ada second-year head coach Doug Dewese. “We played the hardest yet this season and came up just a little short.
“I cannot be more proud of the effort put in by our ladies,” he emphasized. “Allen East has multiple scoring threats, so them putting five goals on us doesn’t surprise me.
“I am just very happy that we kept pushing and playing until the clock read zeroes, and kept pace with them as far as scoring,” he continued.
Bulldog senior standout Ella Marshall netted two goals and dished out two assists to pace the purple and gold offense.
Ada senior Olivia Burkhart tapped in the last goal with a back heel shot to cut the deficit to one. The Bulldogs scrambled to score the equalizer but weren’t able to tie it.
Junior Lexi Poling tallied the other goal, and senior Jenna Rodrigues passed out one assist.
Senior keeper Katie Sizemore stopped 14 Mustang shots in goal for the Bulldogs.
Mustang senior Aubrey Young netted three goals, and junior scoring ace Rilynn Jones tallied two goals to pace the victors.
“Obviously you can’t single out (focus just on) Rilynn,” Dewese said. “They have a lot of other threats. Aubrey was an absolute speed demon and blasted down the outside to create a different lane of attack for them.”
Potent AE scored three more goals in one game than the Ada defense had allowed in their first three matches combined (two). But the Bulldogs hung close to the end.
“One different touch here, one different bounce there, and this score is the other way,” summed up Dewese. “There is no way I can single out a single Ada player that stood out – this was a team effort for a very, very close game.”
The Bulldogs host Delphos St. John’s Tuesday, September 5 at 7 p.m.
The AE girls visit Ft. Jennings Wednesday, August 30.
