Lake’s Casey Hughes (1) battles Emilee Dudgeon. 11/7/09 (Photo: Enoch Wu/Sentinel-Tribune) |
FINDLAY — After 80 scoreless minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime, Lake’s girls soccer team
and St. Marys Memorial had to decide which would make the Division II state Final Four for the first
time in two rounds of penalty kicks.
Unfortunately for Lake, its 10th kick of the shootout sailed right into the arms of Roughriders’
goalkeeper Paige Dicus, giving St. Marys a 3-2 win to steal a 1-0 victory in the regional championship
match at Findlay High School.
The Roughriders, 17-4-1, advanced to the state semifinals. Lake’s best season in school-history ended at
19-2-1.
“I told the girls before the game that we need to leave it all here in Findlay and not go home with any
regrets,” said Flyer coach Steve Hoffman, whose team topped last season’s 12-4-4 team. “We’re going home
with no regrets.”
In the first round of penalty kicks, both teams converted four times, leaving each in need of five new
shooters. The teams followed suit in the second round, scoring on their second and fourth kicks, but
missed their first and third tries.
On the fifth and final kick, the Roughriders’ Kayla Boysell scored with a chest-high shot to the left
side of the net, setting the stage for Lake’s final shot.
“I was going to the right,” said Dicus of the final stop. “But she kicked it right at me and I was lucky
to be there.”
Dicus, also a freshman, had 11 saves in regulation and overtime, while Lake’s Ashley Timmons had 13
stops. Timmons made two big saves though, in the shootout, while the Roughriders’ misses went wide on
Timmons.
“I always ask for (Dicus) to have one save out of the five kicks in practice,” said Roughriders coach
Paul Dingledine. “She came up with a couple saves and they were big.”
For Hoffman, many of his second-round shooters had only done penalty kicks in practice.
“Our girls did great because most had never done penalty kicks in a game,” said Hoffman. “You don’t
anticipate having to go more than five deep, but we practice them everyday with our goalkeeper.”
Timmons’ solid play in net kept Lake just a kick away from winning. She posted 11 saves in regulation,
and two stops in overtime, including a big save on the Roughriders’ leading goal-scorer, Samantha
Davenport, with 8:12 left in the first 15-minute session. It was the first of two opportunities on the
north goal missed in the extra time. Lake hit the top crossbar in the second overtime in front of the
goal box after a great cross pass from Rebecca Boos.
The team that was going north controlled not only the play, but the wind.
“We tried to push it on their half of the field as much as we could when we had the wind,” said Hoffman.
“But both teams did a really good job of holding their side of the pitch defensively.”
Overall, both teams finished with 24 total shots, with St. Marys leading 13-11 in shots on goal. The
Flyers out-shot the Roughriders, 9-4 in the two overtime sessions, with a 4-2 edge in shots at the net.
“Our effort was just incredible,” said Hoffman. “I had girls that I pushed today, who were a little on
the injured or on the sick side, and they just kept going out there and battling.”