MANSFIELD – Ottawa Glandorf is a team built on their defense and it shined through brightly on Tuesday evening in Mansfield as the Titans advanced to the Division 3 state championship game on Friday with a 2-0 victory over Akron Manchester.
Paced by their pressure defense the Titans held the fourth highest single season scoring offense in OHSAA history to no goals and just a pair of shots and kept star forward Katie Norris out of the scoring column as well. Norris’ season coming in to tonight had produced 50 goals to make her one of only 16 players according to OHSAA records to ever nab that many scores in a single campaign.
“Defensively another fantastic game. Manchester had a lot of offensive firepower and I thought our defense did a good job containing them” said OG second year boss Michelle Maag.
Scoreless through the first 40 minutes of play the Titans turned up their offensive tempo in the early moments of the second half to produce the games first marker. Junior forward Bri Douglass raced past Panther defenders and near the goal line before racing a pass through to senior Clara Beach who was able to strike a shot past Manchester goalie Madi Cox with just :33 gone in the half to give OG a 1-0 advantage.
Moments after her first goal of the evening, Beach scored again as this time around she gathered a loose ball just inside midfield and raced towards a 1-on-1 confrontation with Cox that saw the Titan forward unleash a ball high dead center into the net to put the Titans on top 2-0 with 29:35 to go.
“Offensively our second half was solid. We came out with a purpose after halftime and got a big momentum shift on the quick goal. We did a better job connecting passes and playing with pace for the rest of the game after that” said Maag postgame.
With shots hard to come due to a pair of aggressive defenses the Titans managed just six shots on the evening while their counterparts put just two on senior keeper Emma Brinkman despite pulling out a trio of corner kicks in the second half.
Ottawa Glandorf broke an OHSAA record on Tuesday night as Brinkman accounted for the teams 16th straight clean slate, one more than a tie they shared with 1990’s Cincinnati Glen Este at 15 consecutive shutouts entering play.
The Titans also tied an OHSAA single season record held by Columbus St. Francis DeSales (1997), Dublin Coffman (2003), and Strongsville (2003) by notching their 20th shutout in 2022.
Manchester’s 19-game win streak comes to an end as the Panthers finish with a record of 21-2 and suffer their first loss since falling to Akron Hoban on August 22nd 3-2.
Ottawa Glandorf (20-1-2) advances to the Division 3 State Championship game for the second consecutive season and will battle Cincinnati Country Day, 3-0 winners over Lynchburg Clay on Tuesday evening at 4pm inside Lower.Com Field in a game that can be heard on WZOQ Radio.
“Our group is locked in on Fridays game. We left our tournament run one game short last year so we have a second chance at that now. We have a tough challenge in front of us but we are looking forward to it. I’m so proud of the effort these girls gave tonight” finished Maag on her teams victory.