By Cort Reynolds
The Ada High School girls soccer team broke open a scoreless halftime battle with three goals to defeat Fort Jennings 3-0 in a steamy home opener Wednesday evening at War Memorial Stadium.
The match was originally slated for Thursday night, but was moved up a day due in part to the forecast of heat in the mid-90s. Five-minute water breaks were held midway through each half.
“We never really took full control of the game but did enough to put some goals in the net and get the win,” said second-year Bulldog head coach Doug Dewese.
Senior Olivia Burkhart netted the first goal of the night 5:06 into the second half. She knocked in a one-timer with her right foot by redirecting an Alex Gibson feed into the right side of the net from six yards out.
CONTINUES
With 15:38 remaining, junior Lexi Poling doubled the Ada lead and gave the hosts some breathing room. She booted in a left-footed shot on the run from the left side from about 20 feet out to provide a 2-0 cushion.
With just over seven minutes to go, Burkhart and Kailey Wagner played a fine 40-yard through ball that senior Ella Marshall ran up on.
The powerful speedster zeroed in on FJ keeper Maggie Pothast and rifled a shot past her into the lower left corner of the net to put the game out of reach at 3-0 with 7:02 remaining.
“We let them hang around 0-0 at half and it wasn’t until we found the back of the net that we really started playing as hard as we could,” said Dewese.
“Ft. Jennings had a tough back line and it took some work to get through, so I am happy we put three in the back of the net,” he added.
In the first half, Ada dominated the ball and time of possession but could not dent the net.
Pothast bobbled but managed to corral the first three Ada shots on goal.
Freshman Kenley Poling made a nice run up the sideline and fed Marshall, whose shot with 26:45 left was saved by Pothast.
Pothast made a sliding save 1:46 later.
Junior Karley Wagner then hustled back on defense to thwart a good scoring opportunity for FJ at the 16:30 mark. Marshall then scurried downfield on a counter-attack, but her shot was saved with 16:04 left in the first half.
Kenley Poling’s 14-yard shot from the left side was stopped with 10 minutes to go.
Lexi Poling had a good shot on goal at the 6:44 juncture, but her point-blank left side shot was smothered by Pothast.
Burkhart played a good ball through to Marshall, but her shot was booted away by a Musketeer defender 3:50 before halftime.
Ada senior keeper Katie Sizemore saved a long FJ shot with 32 seconds left in the half to keep the contest scoreless at intermission.
Hustling Ada sophomore midfield speedster Jordyn Smith enjoyed a good first half along the left sideline.
“It took a while to gain traction,” said Dewese. “I think the heat pulled us down a little bit and we were flat-footed. We had some missed opportunities in the first half.
“Katie got the shutout with some key saves even though she wasn’t tested much. We just need to finish a little better and play a full 80 minutes in the future matches,” he added.
Sizemore made four saves in the shutout win.
Ada out-shot FJ, 16-4, including 11 shots in the first half.
Ada plays at Lima Senior Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. The Bulldog girls then visit local rival Allen East in the NWC opener on August 28.
