FINDLAY – With the game scoreless at halftime, Lake girls soccer coach Steve Hoffman knew his team was
right where they needed to be.
"I told the girls we’re going to get two goals in the second half," said Hoffman. "I liked
what we were doing on offense and I just had the confidence we were going to get it done. (That’s) just
the way it is with the group." [SEE
PHOTO GALLERY]
Hoffman’s prediction came true, as the Flyers scored twice in the second half to defeat Ontario 2-1 in
the Division II regional semifinals Tuesday at Findlay’s Graham Memorial Stadium.
Lake was 12-4-4 last season, advancing to districts and regionals for the first time in the six-year
history of the program. Lake lost in the regional semifinals 1-0 to Liberty-Benton, as they lost seven
seniors, including the school’s career leaders in goals and saves.
Still it didn’t deter them from topping what they did a year ago.
"Our girls just play a confident game," said Hoffman, now in his second year at the helm.
"We were the doormat of our league when I came in and it’s taken a long time for us to get the
confidence built up in them, but they believe they can only beat themselves."
Rebecca Boos scored the first goal 6:44 into the second half and Shelby Antonacci tallied the eventual
game-winner with 18:33 remaining, as Lake continues what was suppose to be a rebuilding season. The
Flyers, 19-1-1, will play Saint Marys Memorial High School Saturday at noon for the regional
championship once again in Findlay. The Warriors season ends at 16-2-2.
It was a small adjustment early in the final half that would pay big dividends for Flyers. Boos, a
regular defender, replaced injured Kayla Encalado and the Flyers used her speed to generate offense with
their leading goal scorer being heavily covered."
"We liked the match up we had up top," said Hoffman. "They were marking Drew (Plummer)
pretty good and our goal was to get a one-on-one on the outside. When Kayla got hurt, we talked about
putting Rebecca in there because she is the fastest player on the team and it happened to work
out."
Boos’ second quality scoring chance from the left side of the penalty box gave the Flyers the lead. Her
kick, while charging towards the goal, took a weird bounce and slipped by Warriors’ goalkeeper Hannah
Stickleman. It was the first goal of the season for the freshman.
Antonacci countered close to 15 minutes later on a rebound goal in front and the Flyers were up two.
Lindsay Hoffman assisted, as her shot from outside the right edge of the penalty box hit Stickleman in
the chest and bounced to Antonacci open near the top of the goal box.
It wasn’t over, though, as in the final 18 minutes, the Warriors finally began to put intense pressure on
the Flyers’ net. Erica Uselton scored on a shot from 40 yards out with 6:59 to trim the Lake lead to
one.
Then controversy struck.
Ontario was called off-sides on a restart by Uselton just outside the penalty box. The shot hit off the
top crossbar and was knocked in off the rebound for what appeared to be the tying goal with three
minutes left.
"It’s a judgement call, just like a majority of other things out here," said Warriors coach
Larry Atkinson. "It’s such a gray area, especially on free kicks, as to were they off-sides on
contact when the ball was struck, it’s hard to tell."
Ontario out-shot Lake 14-12 in the final 40 minutes, but the Flyers had 12 shots on net to eight for the
Warriors. Overall, Ontario led 20-19 in shots with Lake having a 13-11 in shots on the goal. Stickleman
had 11 saves for Ontario, while Ashley Timmons had 10 for Lake.
"(Lake) is a good team," Atkinson. "We just didn’t finish and didn’t take advantage of our
opportunities and they just capitalized on more of theirs."