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Creek Girls Fall in District Semis

Dover holds Redskins to four shots in a 2-0 shutout

Photo by Joe Catullo Indian Creek’s Abby Copeland delivers a kick during Monday’s distrcit semifinal match at Harrison Central.

CADIZ–Playing its first district semifinal in program history, the Indian Creek girls soccer team wanted to continue its record-setting season.

Dover had a gameplan for that and utilized it perfectly.

The ninth-seeded Tornadoes only allowed four shots on goal and twice took advantage of their 12 during their 2-0 victory in a Division II, Region 7 district semifinal on Monday at Harrison Central.

“It was their midfield,” Indian Creek head coach Joe Lewis said. “No. 25 (Claire Bauer) as a fullback is pretty strong, but Dover’s midfield is what hurt us. (Natalie Baker, Grace Castricone and Whitney Ward) control the midfield, and that’s who they were getting it to. They also out-hustled us in the mid.”

Dover (8-8-1) was coming off a 1-0 overtime victory over Steubenville in the sectional championship on Thursday. The main difference from both contests was scoring earlier.

It took more than 83 minutes Thursday to defeat Big Red. On Monday, Dover took the lead for good with 27:51 remaining in the first half.

“Getting that early goal really helped relax and calm us down,” Dover head coach Angiel Pinion. “We didn’t have that feeling of playing from behind or back and forth.

“Honestly, this field is what we’re used to playing on. Our home field is grass, but it’s the full length of a soccer field. Playing at Steubenville and on that short whip really took away our game. We felt more comfortable on this field tonight.”

Baker netted the game’s first goal unassisted. The second and final score came with 10:24 left in the game. Meredith Lehman connected on Baker’s pass to essentially put the hammer in the coffin.

From the first goal to the last, the Redskins (12-6) had limited opportunities to tie. A few of their four shots on goal nearly snuck by goalkeeper Drew Palmatier. She saved all four shots.

“Second 20 minutes of the second half we possessed the ball a lot better. We just couldn’t get those looks,” Lewis said. “They were getting to us too quickly. Dover deserved the win.”

Indian Creek goalkeeper Mackenzie Orban did all she could to keep her team in it, making 12 saves in goal. Overall, Dover had 17 shots on goal.

“Orban did a heck of a job in goal,” Lewis said. “The girls worked hard and never gave up. Even with 40 seconds left on the clock, they were still hustling. Dover was the better team and deserve to move on.”

The ninth-seeded Tornadoes will face John Glenn in the district championship on Thursday. John Glenn, the No. 2 seed, defeated sixth-seeded New Philadelphia, 3-1, on Monday.

“We’re going to have to be defensive again,” Pinion said. “We just have to make sure where there best player is at all times. We did a nice job tonight of putting two in the back of the net, but we had other opportunities. We had a few breakaways that went right to the keeper. We have to make those ones count.”

As for the Redskins, they close the curtain on the best season in school history. They also say goodbye to five seniors in Jacque Bly, Payton Gaydosh, Maleah Kelly, Ashley Yaich and Orban.

“It’s the best record we’ve had,” Lewis said. “We had six shutouts and made it into the OVAC 5A tournament. We made it through sectionals, so there were a lot of firsts for the team this year. The program keeps getting better, and it will be the same way next year.

“I’ve been coaching this team for four years, so the seniors leaving are the first group I had for all four years. It’s a special group of girls. The year before they started, this team was 1-15. These girls have gotten this team to where it is today. Those are the ones who began building this program.”

GAME NOTES

Ø Dover has shut out its opponents during all eight of its victories, which is a school record.

Ø Thursday’s district championship will take place at 6 p.m. in Coshocton.

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