HOLLAND — Perrysburg sophomore forward Emma Ogdahl scored a three-goal hat trick, propelling Perrysburg girls soccer to the Division I regional finals and one game away from the state final four.
The Yellow Jackets, ranked fourth in the final state coaches’ poll, defeated Toledo Notre Dame, 5-2, in a regional semifinal Wednesday at Springfield Community Stadium to remain unbeaten at 20-0-1. Notre Dame Academy sees its season end at 12-7-1.
NDA coach Chip Smith knew his defense needed to find a way to get a handle on Ogdahl.
“Ogdahl is at a different level,” Smith said. “She was a difference maker today from the very first whistle and we knew that coming in that we had to find a way to control her. She is just so good you can’t. You can’t control a player like that.”
Perrysburg outshot NDA, 27-10, including 20-7 in shots on goal, and they had a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks. Ogdahl and sophomore midfielder Camille Francis put pressure on NDA senior goalkeeper Mo McCanna the entire game.
“Kudos to their goalie, Mo had some nice saves,” Perrysburg coach Jorge Diaz said. “Emma and Camille, that is their job, to score and Emma came out and put the ball in the net and had a couple more, so we’re excited to have them both on our team.”
Ogdahl said it is important for her to take advantage of any opportunity she gets, especially at this level of the tournament.
“I think in big games every person has to realize there are not going to be many chances against fantastic teams like Notre Dame. Chip Smith is a great coach,” Ogdahl said.
“I think we all just knew that not too many chances were going to come so we had to capitalize on any time we got an opportunity to score that close to goal.”
Perrysburg scored three goals in the first 10 minutes, which set the tone.
“I think scoring early is one of the things that we try to make happen because it just gives our team so much intensity and it gets us so ready for the game, amped up and ready to score the next goal,” Ogdahl said. “It gives us all a sense that this is possible, let’s keep them coming.”
Perrysburg junior midfielder Grace Langendorf got the Jackets on the board just two minutes and 28 seconds after the opening kickoff, scoring off a corner kick.
Less than five minutes later, Ogdahl scored her first goal on a breakaway, and it took just two minutes and 10 seconds for her to score her second, deflecting the ball with her body toward the goal to give Perrysburg a 3-0 lead with 30:31 still remaining in the first half.
Smith said those first three goals dealt his team a significant blow.
“I think the game came down to the first 10 minutes,” Smith said. “They were up for it and we were a little slow.
“We gave away a set piece, which we hate to give away, and then Ogdahl sprung loose, and the third one was a deflection that went in. It was kind of a weird 10 minutes and then I thought we kind of settled into it.”
NDA junior forwatd Aly Peckham finally got the Eagles on the board, scoring on a 25-yard shot with 8:58 remaining in the first half to bring the Eagles to within two goals, 3-1.
The second half went scoreless for 26-plus minutes, but Peckham had several chances to get her team back to within one but freshman goalkeeper Tori Trzcinski was there for the stop.
“We had our chances there early in the second to (possibly) make it 3-2, game on, and then we had like a mishit and the goalkeeper made a good save on the one,” Smith said.
Francis scored with 13:49 remaining in the game to give Perrysburg a seemingly insurmountable three goal lead, 4-1. But the Eagles were not folding up yet.
Just 16 seconds later, NDA sophomore forward Maya Spencer scored on a header to bring her team back to within two, 4-2.
Along came Ogdahl securing her hat trick by nailing a 35-yard shot that sailed high over McCanna’s reach and into the top of the net.
For the Jackets, freshman striker Elyza Bird had two assists and freshman striker Lauren McCojnnachie and senior midfielder Avery Zeisloft had one assist apiece.
Smith said his team was simply outmatched, even though the Jackets only downed the Eagles, 1-0, when they met in the season opener at St. Francis High School’s LeValley Stadium in West Toledo on August 11.
“Like I told the girls, ‘We lost to a really good team. They’ve been the best team in the area all year,’” Smith said. “I don’t want to take anything away from those kids — they were fantastic.”
Perrysburg now advances to take on No. 1 ranked Strongsville, the only team to put any kind of blemish on the Jackets’ schedule when the two teams played to a scoreless tie on August 26 on the Mustangs’ pitch.
“They are a tremendously disciplined team. It is going to be tough,” Diaz said. “This game, I think we are going to have to prepare to go all the way to penalty kicks if we need to because they also have a very good team.”
Wednesday’s regional semifinal game had been pushed back a day because of nearly an inch of snow on the field Tuesday, which Diaz said turned out to be a good thing for his team.
“I think the biggest thing was we had an extra day to come and get focused,” Diaz said. “We knew that Strongsville won already and we have got to make our mark.”
“We came out clicking right away. Our goal was to score in the first 20 minutes and we did. We scored in the first three minutes so that was exciting.”
Ogdahl added, “I think in our preparation we obviously work hard and we will not take any days off. I think our team is fantastic this year and I think all of the girls are great people. I love it this year.
“We came into this game so pumped up, just ready because we know what we want. We want a state title.
“I mean, we are so ready for this and we knew that it’s going to be cold, we knew that it was going to hurt when the ball hit your leg, but we knew that the pain was temporary and if we win states that will be in the books forever.”
