Celina halts Jay's offense

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CELINA, Ohio – The Bulldogs took away the Patriot offense.

And exploited the defense.

The Jay County High School girls soccer team fell behind just 110 seconds in and never recovered and their bread-and-butter offensive scheme was kept in check in an 8-1 loss Tuesday to the Celina Bulldogs.

“Got outplayed, outhustled first half,” said JCHS coach Giles Laux, whose team was behind 6-0 at intermission. “Their passes were spot on.

“We came out flat. It was just one of those nights it was not our night.”

Celina, which lost to the Patriots 3-1 last year in Portland, had six players find the back of the net, including a pair of penalty kicks.

“I stress to the girls it doesn't matter where the goals come from, we're all on the same team,” Celina coach Eric Gerker said. “We need to focus on getting everyone involved. The more versatility we can create in our team the better.”

Makenna Klingshirn put the Bulldogs (4-1) on top less than two minutes in as she converted a one-touch pass on a cross from the left corner and sent a shot to the left side of the net.

Klingshirn, along with Emily Keith, both finished with two goals. Klingshirn netted her second midway through the second half for the final goal of the night.

Keith's first made it 2-0 Bulldogs in the fifth minute as she sent a cross pass into the goalie box that deflected off a Patriot defender into the net.

Her second goal came on a corner that JCHS goalkeeper Shelby Caldwell had trouble handling.

Madison Kuehne, Carly Eichler, Larisa Orick and Emma Minnich each had first-half goals, with Kuehne and Minnich picking up theirs on penalty kicks. Kuehne's was a result of a foul in the penalty area, and Minnich took her PK after a hand ball in the box.

“Lot of things we found out about ourselves tonight that's going to help us postseason, and that's what matters,” Laux said.

Jay County (3-2), which had its three-game winning streak snapped, spent a majority of the game on defense kicking away Celina opportunities.

Offensively, Jay County's midfielders had trouble executing what had been helping the team score more than five goals per game; kicking through balls over the opposing defenses and letting the forwards chase it down for one-on-one opportunities with the goalkeeper.

Every time the Patriots attempted to get the ball up to Kendra Muhlenkamp, Payton McCoy or Karlie Bullard, the Bulldogs either got to the ball first or chased down the Patriots from behind.

“Defense is probably the fastest we've ever seen, ever played against,” Laux said. “Their midfielders were very fast. Their ball-handling skills on defense, they just beat us to the ball on almost every play.

“They definitely wanted to win.”

Mikele Suman scored the lone goal for the Patriots in the 62ndd minute. Eliza Bader sent a corner kick from the left side of the field toward the net, and as the ball bounced free in front of the keeper Suman buried the loose ball into the short side.

But for the remainder of the game Celina sniffed out any chance the Patriots had at getting the ball to the forwards.

“We're not deep,” Laux said. “We don't have a deep bench and we were a little wore out.”