Overwhelmed

Kendra Muhlenkamp has been trying to figure out her team’s best substitute patterns.

Coldwater’s Paul Dingledine sends new players on in massive waves. It proved overwhelming for the Patriots.

The Jay County High School girls soccer team became the first this season to score on the visiting Coldwater Cavaliers, but their Ohio rivals responded quickly to reclaim the lead and utilized every ounce of its roster in handing the Patriots a 4-1 defeat Saturday.

"I don’t have too many subs,” said Muhlenkamp, whose team dropped to 1-4-1 on the season with the lone victory by a 7-1 score over South Adams. “And the girls are tired. And sometimes I think maybe I’m having them do too much. Maybe I should sit them out more. But I feel like every part of the game is crucial.”

The crucial moment for Coldwater (4-0-1) on Saturday was how it would respond to giving up a goal for the first time this season.

It took them 90 seconds to find out.

The Cavaliers reclaimed the advantage in a hurry as they got the ball to Mia Byer in the right side of the box on a free kick from near midfield following an Aixa Lopez foul. Byer sent a high shot into the left side of the net to give her team the lead for good.

“When we want to play, we can play,” said Dingledine, who said he felt his team started slowly Saturday morning. “It’s when you just want to stand around and watch that it gets boring.

“I told the girls, a lot of times we have too much individualism. When you have individual players trying to do something, 10 girls are standing around watching.

“And that’s not fun for anybody. … We’re trying to involve everybody on the field so they can participate and help us out.”

When he says everybody, he means everybody. He utilized all of the 19 athletes on his roster.

Coldwater took advantage of its depth Saturday as, on several occasions, Dingledine substituted eight players at a time.

“This year, we’ve been doing that,” the coach said. “There’s some girls I’m not going to stick in at a forward position that’s never played it … but we’ve been doing it. … We sub with confidence and they play hard when they’re in there. And it gives us a break to stay as fresh as we can.”

Though Jay County couldn’t match up to that Cavaliers’ depth, they were able to become the first team to break through their defense all season. With her team trailing 1-0, junior Jayla Huelskamp passed to Morgan DeHoff at the left corner of the 18-yard box and the junior forward then beat goalie Sydney Grieshop with a shot to the left side of the net.

“Morgan’s goal was beautiful,” said Muhlenkamp. “That was a beautiful pass from Jayla. We can do more of that.”

After retaking the lead on the score by Byer, Coldwater extended its advantage in the final minute of the first half. Senior Ellie Schneider sent a through ball to Avery Knapke, who outran the Patriots’ defensive line to get to it. She stayed ahead of Emma Hatzell and Ariel Beiswanger as they tried to chase her down and sent her shot inside the left post for a 3-1 lead.

Knapke also had the Cavaliers’ first goal of the game, taking a pass from senior midfielder Olivia Tobe and rolling a shot past JCHS goalie Angel Clairday at the 29:11 mark.

“We’re still figuring it out,” said JCHS coach Kendra Muhlenkamp. “I feel like we have the right pieces. …

“A team like Coldwater, they did have a couple speedsters and they did have a really good defense, so the ball really was played in the midfield a majority of the time.”

The Patriots limited Coldwater to a Byer penalty kick goal in the second half — it came after she and Emma Hatzell got tangled up during the play and some shoving ensued afterward — but also didn’t get many scoring opportunities of their own. (DeHoff had a shot from the edge of the 18-yard box deflected by goalie Sydney Grieshop at the 28:03 mark and Molly Muhlenkamp missed wide left on a break away after taking a through ball from Lopez.)

Jay County was out-shot 14-8 in the game, with DeHoff recording three shots. Clairday finished with 10 saves.