By Cort Reynolds

ADA - Second-year Ada varsity girls soccer head coach Doug Poling is hoping his rising young team can set a program record for single-season wins this fall.

Toward that end, the Lady Bulldogs return eight letter winners from a squad that finished 5-11 overall and 4-3 in Northwest Conference play last fall.

The solid, experienced core will combine with some strong newcomers to comprise an improved, dangerous Ada club.

"We want to have at least a .500 record, set a program record for wins and finish second in the NWC," said Poling. "Everyone improved their skills and got better over the off-season."

Poling feels a strong returning core of four junior letter winning starters, and a pair of senior veterans will help carry the team to its goals - with help from a strong freshman class. An improved offense its cause for much of the optimism.

"We will try to push the ball upfield more this year and get more offense out of the midfield," he said. "We did not lose much offense to graduation."

Poling pointed to more scoring weapons as the reason for expecting a 2018 offensive surge. The 2017 Lady Bulldogs scored 32 goals in 16 games, a 2.0 average, and were shut out six times.

"We are a lot deeper in our front five," he noted. "We have four freshmen coming in who can add scoring punch to our returnees, so we have a lot more overall offensive potential. We also have two super sophomores on defense in Brenna Hissong and Kylie Shafer."

Hissong is coming off an all-league freshman season, and should only get better with increased duties and maturity.

"Brenna is super strong at fullback," said Poling. "We will rely on her to reduce the opposition's offense and start our offense with good speed on the backline."

Junior offensive midfielder Bella East and speedy forward classmate Katie Butterfield are two of the team's top returning scorers.

Junior Ella Poling is the other key offensive weapon back at forward. "Those three are our key returning offensive scorers," noted Poling. "Freshman Timberlyn Blankenship will also be a scoring option at forward."

East was named first team All-NWC and second team All-NCOSA in 2017, while Butterfield was voted second team All-NWC.

"Freshmen Julia Kamatali, Timber and the Robirds twins (Alaina and Hailey) are all capable scorers," added Poling. "The four freshmen can all score."

Junior McKenzie Long will handle the critical goalkeeping duties after serving as a backup most of last year. She saw key action late in the 2017 season in goal, and fared well.

Starting defenders will include promising frosh Alaina Robirds, first team All-NWC/second team All-NCOSA pick Hissong, experienced senior Allie Dotson and soph Shafer. "Kylie is very strong on defense," said the coach.

Veteran defensive midfielder Hailey Callahan is the only other senior. "Hailey has a strong leg and can also score as well from her defensive position," Poling pointed out.

Dotson and Callahan are fourth-year letter winners and lend much experience to the defense.

Poling noted that cohesion in integrating the new freshmen is a slight concern. "We also have a limited number of players out (17). Our subs are inexperienced.

"But I just feel our program is on the upswing."

Rounding out the roster are sophomore Kesewa Akyeampong, athletic junior Braelynn Dodge, junior Sofia Hernandez, junior Afia Okyere, and junior Tabitha Tidd.

As far as the rugged NCOSA league race is concerned, Poling has set a somewhat modest goal. "We want to win at least one NCOSA game," he said.

"In the NWC, we want to finish in the top half of the league, and are hoping to get as high as number two," he offered.

Allen East and Bluffton tied for the league title at 6-0-1 last year, followed by Spencerville (5-2) and Ada (4-3).

The Bulldogs were a solid fourth in the eight-team NWC standings. With good health and an expected offensive boost, they could well finish even higher and surpass the program record for season wins (7) in 2018.

Ada girls soccer at a glance

2017 record: 5-11-0, 4-3 NWC (4th of 8)

Head coach: Doug Poling, 2nd year

Formation: 4-3-3

Letter winners back/lost: 8/6

Starters back/lost: 8/3

Top returnees: Jr. Bella East, Jr. Katie Butterfield, Jr. Ella Poling, Jr. McKezie Long, Sr. Allie Dotson, Sr. Hailey Callahan  

Key newcomers: Freshmen Julia Kamatali, Timberlyn Blankenship, Robirds twins