Lady Musketeers shut out Big Green

By Jim Metcalfe, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Saturday, October 11, 2008 (1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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FORT JENNINGS — Fort Jennings was coming off an emotional 1-0 girls soccer win over St. Marys Memorial Monday night.
Head coach Rodney Wagner had some concerns about a letdown, especially with archrival Ottoville coming to Keith Hamel Memorial Field on a gorgeous fall Thursday night.
It took his Lady Musketeers a while to get going but they eventually did, shutting out the Lady Big Green 2-0.
“We played extremely well against St. Marys — especially defensively — and, in all honesty, I don’t think we were ready at the start tonight. It’s tough to come back from a game like that and play your archrivals for the second time this season,” Wagner explained.
Neither team had many scoring chances in the first 40 minutes; in fact, it seemed as if the Lady Green (4-10-2) were winning the midfield battle but could not take advantage.
“We’re playing hard; the desire is still there for these girls. However, I don’t like how we’re playing at all,” Ottoville coach Kevin Krouskop said. “We’re too nervous with the ball. Our touches are poor and everything goes from there. We’ve hit a stretch of losses here where we’re just not getting it done.”
The Musketeers (10-3-2) got the first good look from junior Ashley Amstutz at 19:07 but her shot from the right wing just missed wide left.
Ottoville junior Jessica Beining’s try from 28 yards missed over the top at 18:40.
It was within 30 seconds of a tie match at the half when the Orange and Black struck. Sophomore Lauren Verhoff, near the touch line on the left side, crossed the ball inside to junior Katie von Lehmden in the middle. She took a 1-touch shot to the far post past sophomore keeper Nikki Kimmet (11 saves vs. 13 shots-on-goal) to give the hosts that 1-0 lead.
“That was a big lift. We did that the other night, too; when we got the lead, we seemed to play that much harder,” Wagner continued.
The hosts nearly got their second goal 10 minutes into the second half; after a flurry in front of the Lady Green net, senior Rachel Grothause got control for a 12-yarder that Kimmet stopped.
Jennings junior keeper Megan Schimmoeller (4 saves vs. 4 shots) stopped a 17-yarder by freshman Lauren Koch at 29:01.
Kimmet kept the deficit at 1 at 27:46 when she dove to deflect away senior Chelsea Chandler’s shot from the top of the box.
She could not keep it that way at 27:17. Off a corner kick from von Lehmden, Amstutz touched it to senior Kayla Knippen in traffic; her 6-yarder got past Kimmet for a 2-0 lead.
Kimmet kept it from a 3-goal deficit at 25:52 when she knocked away junior Stacie Chandler’s offering from the top of the semi-circle.
Schimmoeller preserved the shutout at 16:34; she came out to deny freshman Caitlyn Landin, who’d gotten behind the defense, by deflecting away her shot. Though the keeper fell down, the Green and Gold could not get another clean look at the open goal.
“We’re almost trying too hard to do too much. We need to relax and make good decisions,” Krouskop added. “We have Bryan in the tournament Tuesday and they knocked us out of the tournament last year. We have to play as well as I know we can — we’ve shown signs this year — to advance.”
That game — at Ottoville — starts at 5 p.m.
“We need to pick things up more when we get into the sectional tournament,” Wagner added.
They host Elida at noon Saturday in the regular-season finale.

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