By Cort Reynolds
The Ada High School girls soccer team dropped its annual Bulldog battle to visiting Northwest Conference rival Columbus Grove 5-1 at War Memorial Stadium Monday evening, September 18.
With the loss, Ada’s overall record fell to 4-3-2 while their NWC mark dropped to 1-2.
CG improved to 4-3 overall and 3-1 in NWC play, good for third place, with the victory.
“Sometimes the scoreline doesn’t reflect the effort,” said Bulldog head coach Doug Dewese. “We moved the ball and had attacks, we just didn’t find the back of the net.
“We looked great in the first 10 minutes, but we started to give away misplaced passes, didn’t step into tackles and played flat-footed on the backline,” he added.
Speedy Grove built a 3-1 lead at the half. The visitors scored early in the second half to go ahead by three, and added a goal in the final seconds to provide the final margin of four.
Ada senior Ella Marshall scored the only Bulldog goal on an assist from classmate Karmen Hall.
Bulldog senior keeper Katie Sizemore saved 11 of the 16 Grove shots on goal. Ada directed 11 shots on goal, but the CG keeper saved 10.
CG’s Lauren Auchmuty and Ella Dotson each scored two goals, while Ruth Meyers added one goal.
Ada probably had more possession and chances than CG did in the second half. A Bulldog right corner kick sailed through the box untouched with 26:40 remaining.
At 24:10, Sizemore made a save. A long right side shot by Alex Gibson was saved by Grove at the 20:27 mark.
Ada earned a left corner kick at the 18:48 juncture but couldn’t punch it in. The CG keeper made a save with 18:17 to go, and authored another stop with 17 minutes left.
A bit later Ada senior Olivia Burkhart dished a nice ball to Gibson, whose shot on goal was stopped at the 13:57 mark.
Burkhart then stole a pass and got off a right side shot from 12 yards out, but it went just wide past the far post with 13 minutes to play.
A Bulldog left side corner misfired thirty seconds later.
Sizemore came up with a save at the 7:01 juncture.
Marshall had a one-on-one chance to score with 3:58 left, but the CG keeper made the save.
With 26 seconds left, Grove lofted a shot over Sizemore into the net to provide the final margin.
Marshall’s shot on goal with two seconds left was saved as well.
“Grove’s strategy was pretty easy,” said Dewese. “They have a bunch of speed up top and they bombed the ball over to make everyone chase. We had a few miscues on defense that they capitalized on by getting to the back of the net.
“When we had opportunities on our end, we just didn’t finish,” he added.
The Ada girls (0-1-1 NCOSA) play at tough Upper Sandusky (8-1, 1-1 NCOSA) Thursday, September 21 at 5:00 p.m.
