OTTAWA – Saturday afternoon at Titan Stadium the Ottawa Glandorf girls soccer team survived a scare from WBL rival Bath to win their fourth straight district title, 2-1 in overtime.
O-G (17-2) knocked off the Wildcats for the second time this season at home to earn their regional semifinal spot that will see them face Clear Fork on Tuesday night at 7pm in Bowling Green.
“It was a heck of a game today against a really talented and well coached Bath team” said O-G head coach Michelle Maag. “I’m very proud of our girls for the toughness and persistence they showed today.”
The Titans notched the first goal of the game with 14:01 remaining in the first half. Working in from the left of Bath keeper Carmen Kunkleman, O-G senior Makenna Siefker lofted an offering that ricocheted off the post before being sharply redirected into the net by teammate Emma Heringhaus.
Bath (10-7-3) pulled even at 1-1 just outside of 10 minutes remaining in the contest as a floater from 32-yards away off the foot of 1st team WBL selection Faith Clark skied over Titan keeper Libbie Niese.
Clark’s goal, her second in as many games at Titan Stadium came from nearly the identical spot on the north end of the field as her previous marker on Wednesday that gave the Wildcats a 3-2 OT victory over St. Marys.
“Clark hit a real beauty on her free kick to the upper ninety” said Maag. “After Clark’s goal I thought we responded well. At that point, it’s about making the next play, and I thought the girls continued to fight hard.”
Defensively the Titans slowed down a Bath run in the opening minute of the extra 15:00 and worked up the left sideline as quick passes to junior Delaney Duling allowed spacing to open up through the middle. Duling, the O-G leader in assists on the season placed an offering just in front of teammate Makenna Siefker who raced a top shelf shot over Kunkleman to send the host blue and gold home winners just 1:01 into overtime.
“It’s a unique situation with the golden goal being in effect, and the girls took to the challenge well” said Maag. “In what was really our first chance to score in overtime, Delaney made a good play to create the chance and Makenna finished it off under a good deal of pressure.”
Though Bath played in a pair of extra time games in their district trip, the Titans hadn’t faced an overtime period since falling in the Evergreen district finals in 2020 to Archbold 2-1 in Metamora.
“I’m proud of the whole team today, all 11 on the field bought in to playing good defense today. We’ll enjoy it tonight and then begin our prep for a matchup with a great Clear Fork team on Tuesday” finished Maag.
Scoring:
14:01 – Emma Heringhaus (OG)
10:12 – Faith Clark (B)
13:59 – Makenna Siefker (OG)
Assists:
1 – Makenna Siefker (OG)
1 – Delaney Duling (OG)