With win over Clay, Jackets play district final Saturday
By NIKKI SUNDERMEIER
STAFF WRITER
All Perrysburg athletic teams strive for greatness, but this year’s girls varsity soccer team reached that goal. They beat every team that they played this season. That’s right, every team that dared to take on the Yellow Jackets, including capturing a 4-0 win over Clay on Tuesday in a Division I district semifinal match.
And 13 of those games were shut-outs. Let’s say that again. Thirteen of the 18 games that the Perrysburg H.S. girls’ soccer played resulted in goals on the board for Perrysburg and a big fat 0 for the opposing team. The Jackets have scored at will, posting 83 goals against their opponents, while yielding only five.
We at eSomethin.com don’t want to rub it in or pile it on, but facts are facts – teams from Clay, Springfield, Notre Dame, Anthony Wayne, Central Catholic, Findlay, Bowling Green Christian Academy, St. Ursula Academy, Sylvania Southview, Waite, and arch rival Maumee all fielded a team against the Perrysburg girls soccer team and all left the field without a single goal.
That’s defense, that’s dominance, that’s why our team is ranked not only second in the state of Ohio, but second in the country in this week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll.
On Saturday, the Yellow Jackets will face Ashland at 2:30 p.m. at Findlay High School in the Division I district final. In the first round of the playoffs against Clay, goals were scored by Maddy Williams, Lucy Walton, Sarah Quimby and Allex Brown.
Perrysburg captured a third straight Northern Lakes League title Oct. 10 by knocking off Maumee 3-0.
“I’m very happy for the girls because they accomplished one of our goals,” Coach Jorge Diaz told reporters after the Maumee game where the Perrysburg rival was shut-out 3-0. “The second goal is to go undefeated. We are happy the way we are playing going into the tournament.”
>>Watch BCSN video clip of Perrysburg/Clay game
Williams, 17, plays forward on the team and is the centerpiece of perhaps the most talented team in the program’s history. She is one of three seniors with plans to play Division I college soccer next year. She will attend Purdue, while goalkeeper Chloe Buehler is headed to Penn State, and Mollie Whitacre to Ohio University.
“The team was very motivated by the loss against Northveiw last season. We were very upset,” Williams told eSomethin.com. That showed in the 6-1 win Perrysburg had over Sylvania Northview this year.
Margaret Bernard, who shares coaching duties with Coach Diaz, says Williams has played “phenomenally well” this season.
“She comes out and she’s scored in every game we’ve had this season. She really does make a difference in the game. Not only can she be defended by multiple players and still score, she’s just as good getting assists and setting up other players. She creates opportunities for other players and she’s just tough for other teams to defend against,” Coach Bernard told The Blade after the win over Maumee.
Sam Schrader, 17, plays defense and says she hopes next year’s team does well without the seniors, but admits it will be a challenge: “I think they will have to work harder.”
Contact Nikki at [email protected]
