OTTOVILLE – Miller City and Ottawa Glandorf punched their tickets to meet one another in the district finals on Tuesday evening as each were victorious in their semifinals matchups.
In the opener of the evening the Miller City Wildcats gained payback for a 1-0 loss on August 23rd to Columbus Grove when senior Ava Rosengarten punched home her 11th and most important goal of the season with 7:04 to go in overtime to give her squad a 1-0 victory and secure a trip to the district finals.
Miller City’s staunch defense provided Columbus Grove standout Lauryn Auchmuty, a 64 goal scorer playing in her sophomore season limited room to move and collect shots or opportunities to set up teammates for success.
Goalkeepers Liz Otto of Miller City and Gwen Langhals of Columbus Grove found themselves facing just a handful of shots each in the first two halves of play and were able to stop the opponents runs with a handful of brilliant stops.
After the game Miller City head coach Kurt Rosengarten remarked “I thought we played very well tonight. I thought we won the middle of the field which in turn controlled the game. We had a few shots at goal tonight were I couldn’t believe they didn’t go in. I thought our passing was on point for most of the game as well. Hats off to Grove for a great game. It was a battle.”
Miller City runs their record to 16-3-1 while Columbus Grove sees their first trek to the district level end at 12-3-2.
Ottawa Glandorf kicked off the first of their four goals on the evening with under five minutes gone in the game on a deep run by Karsyn Erford that set up teammate Bri Douglass who banged a shot home at 35:24 to push the Titans ahead 1-0.
Erford, a freshman who notched her first three career goals in the sectional finals victory over Delphos St. Johns added to the Titans markers on this night with 11:08 for her fourth of the postseason by blitzing a shot past Continental keeper Marissa Becher.
The final score of the first half for the Titans came with 1:32 remaining in the opening half of play working off of a corner kick when a shot from Marissa Brown found the back of the net on a long cross. Brown’s second goal of the season sent the two teams into the break with OG on top 3-0.
Though the first half and opening moments were played under a perfect evening in Putnam County, the final 25 minutes were witness to a heavy and steady rain that provided no help setting up shots for the two squads.
Ottawa Glandorf’s fourth and final tally of the night came with 13:59 remaining on a feed to Douglass who then raced across the field for her 19th goal of the season.
Continental sees their season come to a conclusion at 9-9-1 while Ottawa Glandorf improves to 15-0-1 in their last 16 games and 16-1-2 overall. The Titans have now shut out opponents in 16 games this year and in each of their last 25 halves of play.
“It was a good win tonight against a hard working Continental squad. I thought the game got a bit choppy at times but credit the girls for finding a way to grab the win. Defensively we limited their looks and did a good job executing the game plan. We have some areas that we want to improve upon after tonight’s game and with the win we get a chance to work on that moving forward while we prepare for Miller City on Saturday” said second year Ottawa Glandorf mentor Michelle Maag.
Asked about OG, Miller City’s Kurt Rosengarten opined “Looking at Saturday’s matchup, it’ll be a tough task. OG is one of the best teams in the state. I think our defense can match up against them fairly well. We do have a physical defense. We have to be ready for their crosses to the middle. I can’t hardly put into words of how proud I am of these girls. They work so hard this year.”
Saturday’s 4pm district finals matchup between Miller City and OG can be heard live on WZOQ Radio