Marion ousts Patriots (10/12/04)

MARION — The streak is over.

The Jay County girls soccer team had been to five straight sectional finales, but ended up overmatched in five championship game losses. With a wide open field this year the Patriots hoped it would be their chance to break through. Marion denied them that opportunity Monday.

The host Giants scored twice in the first half and held off Jay County 2-1 in the opening round of sectional play.

They will advance to play Norwell (6-9-2) in sectional semifinal action Wednesday at 5 p.m. Norwell defeated Marion Lakeview Christian in Monday’s other opening-round game, 5-1.

“We woke up in the second half,” said Jay County coach Sue Rager, whose team seemed to have more fire after the intermission despite similar statistics. “I don’t know if it was nerves or if we scared. We were just flat in the first half.”

Marion (9-7-1) took advantage of that slow start by the Patriots (7-7-1), taking a 2-0 lead at halftime. Senior Jamie Bruggeman, who took nine of Jay County’s 25 shots, made the game interesting in the second half.

Sara Garringer, who along with Bruggeman created most of the Patriots’ offense all season, took control of the ball in the middle of the field as the clock ticked past the midway point of the second half. She passed forward to Bruggeman, who slipped a shot past Natasha Kroma to pull Jay County within one goal.

However, the Marion defense held strong. The Patriots’ best chances to score came on long-distance shots by Bruggeman, and Kroma denied them both to give the Giants the victory.

After taking the two-goal lead, Marion went into a defensive mode to try to hold the advantage. Coach Idowu Ikudabo even put his offensive player, Emily Voss, on Bruggeman during the final 7:47 of the game.

“They were putting more (players) on defense because we were attacking the goal more,” said Rager of the way the second half played out. “We really played very well that second half. We had several chances at scoring again and we couldn’t capitalize on them”

The Giants’ first-half lead, which carried them to their first sectional victory in the four-year history of the girls soccer program, came on the power of Voss’s offense.

Voss, who tallied 15 goals during the regular season, got the first score for the Giants less than 10 minutes into the game.

Racheal Ruley started the scoring play, taking control just on Marion’s side of the midfield stripe and passing up to Meltonia Zubowski. Zubowski then tapped the ball to Voss, who chipped over Jay County goalie Abby Loy for a 1-0 Marion lead.

With 14:39 left in the first half the Giants found themselves in a 2-on-1 with Voss leading the way. She drove down the middle and passed to Maria Friday on the right side.

Friday shot back across the box, knocking the ball to the left corner of the goal to make it 2-0.

Bruggeman’s second-half goal gave the Patriots a chance, but they could not complete the rally to force overtime. They had played and won overtime contests in the sectional semifinal round in each of the last two seasons.

Jay County took 25 shots on goal in the contest — 12 in the first half and 13 in the second. Angie Hilgeford and Saffron Redwine followed Bruggeman with four shots apiece.

Marion took 19 shots on goal, with Loy recording 17 saves.

Jay County graduates a senior class of eight players, more than half of whom were four-year starters. They gave the program a fifth straight straight season of .500 or better this year, and finished with a career record of 36-25-4.

Bruggeman finished with school records for assists in a season and assists in a career. Jessica Heitkamp earned Academic All-State honors from the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association, and Hilgeford was an Academic All-State honorable mention selection.

“I will definitely miss my seniors ...” said Rager. “You work with girls for four years and get them where you want them to be and then they graduate.

“This has been an awesome group of girls. They’re nice on and off the field.”[[In-content Ad]]