Demons take 4th in a row

WELLMAN - When a team is on a roll, good things happen.

It took just 3 minutes, 1 second for the Washington High School girls soccer team to score all it would need for a 4-0 nonconference win over Mid-Prairie Tuesday.

It was just 2 minutes later when Trina Griffin scored her second goal of the match for the Demons.

There was 11:39 left in the first half when Greta Rothe blasted a shot from about 30 yards out that ricocheted off a Golden Hawk and went into the goal for a 3-0 lead.

'I was dribbling up the field and I did not see anybody open, so I decided to shoot it and it hit off of one of their players and went in,” Rothe said. 'That was really cool.”

Abbygail Voss sent a pass up the left side that Griffin ran down and sent into the far right corner of the net for the first goal.

Rothe sent a pass to Griffin right through the middle of the defense for the second goal.

'I just know that when I get the ball and look up, Trina or Halle (Leyden) is usually open and they are really good shooters,” Rothe said. 'All I need to do is get it to them.”

'I think our sweeper was playing too high and they were able to take advantage of that when they scored their goals in the first half,” MP coach Justin Barthelman said.

Rothe's ballhandling skills in the middle of the field are also vital to the Demons' success.

'We wanted to create pressure in the center of the field,” WHS coach Protacio Marcelino said. 'Greta is very important there.”

Alas, when things are going good, something always breaks it up.

With 11:41 remaining in the match, play was stopped when Grothe went down.

'I just went in for a tackle,” she said. '(Monday) during the game, I went for a tackle and hurt my ankle a little bit, so I think it is just weak. I think tonight I sprained it a little bit.”

She spent the remainder of the match on the sidelines with ice taped to the ankle.

With 2:04 remaining, Meghan Case coralled a loose ball and lofted a shot from the right side that settled in the far left corner of the net.

Although it was the only goal of the second half, Marcelino wasn't concerned.

'I know what I have,” he said. 'I know my team.”

He also has Olivia Pacha in goal. Pacha made 15 saves.

'That is what she is good at,” Marcelino said. 'She is very important back there. I know I am going to miss her if she ever leaves.”

For Mid-Prairie, it was the season opener.

'We had plenty of shots on goal,” Barthelman said. 'I felt like we had the ball on our end enough to get a couple goals. We had a lot of one-on-one opportunities and so did they. They capitalized on their's and we didn't.”

Emily Swartzentruber played well in her first game as the Golden Hawks goalkeeper.

'I have to say our keeper did a good job. This is a learning experience,” Barthelman said. 'We can build off of that. I saw a lot of good things come out of this game, but there are a lot of things we have to work on as well.”

Washington hosts Fairfield Thursday while MP plays at Columbus.