Bulldogs host Riverdale on September 7
By Cort Reynolds
The Ada High School girls soccer team tied visiting non-conference foe Delphos St. John’s 1-1 on a hot and steamy Tuesday evening, September 5, under the lights at War Memorial Stadium.
Ada ran its record to 3-1-1 overall with the draw. DSJ stayed undefeated at 3-0-4 after the tie.
“To be honest we had a down night,“ said Ada second-year head coach Doug Dewese. “We had some great individual efforts, but couldn’t put it together to break the tie.
“Ella Marshall played great and we had phenomenal games out of Alex Wagner, Karley Wagner and Jordyn Smith on defense,” he continued. “Kiah Hefner also had a great night in midfield.
“By far though, us holding St. John’s to one goal was due to Katie Sizemore having the best game in goal I have ever seen her play,” the coach noted.
Bulldog senior standout Ella Marshall scored the Bulldog goal on an assist from fellow senior Olivia Burkhart.
Senior keeper Katie Sizemore was credited with 16 saves.
Both teams had several chances to untie the game in the second half. Ada goalkeeper Katie Sizemore grabbed a high one-bounce shot at the 27-minute mark to keep the game tied.
DSJ then had a one-on-one breakaway opportunity, but the grounder shot rolled just to the outside of the left goalpost with 22:27 remaining.
A shot by Marshall just missed wide left of the goal at the 20:22 mark.
Sizemore made saves of shots on goal at the 20:30 and 17:52 junctures.
At the 12:37 mark, a Blue Jay shot rolled just wide of the goal.
A Marshall shot from the left side with 7:37 to go just missed wide.
Thirty seconds later, a DSJ breakaway attempt was pushed just a foot wide of the left post as Sizemore angled the shooter off.
The Ada defense thwarted a right corner kick via a header with 4:44 remaining.
With 3:20 to go, another Blue Jay shot sailed just wide of the goal.
St. John’s mustered one last potential winning shot with 20 seconds left to play, but it narrowly missed to preserve the tie.
“We finally started to play hard the last 15 minutes and looked like the team we should be,” Dewese said. “But the first 65 minutes was not our best effort. We need 80 minutes out of our girls, not 15.
“Delphos St. John’s has a very good team and a stout defense, but if we had played 80 minutes as hard as we played the last 15, we would have come out on top,” he observed.
The Bulldogs host Riverdale (3-1-1) Thursday, September 7 at 5 p.m. in the NCOSA opener. The match also serves as the opening match of a girls/boys varsity doubleheader vs. the Falcons.
